Long before Moore was called to task for the monument's removal, Barnard said God spoke to him about the issue.
"I heard the Lord speak to me and say one day I would have to stand up for him (Moore)," Barnard said. "When the call finally came, my heart was already prepared for it."
The Rev. Karl Stegall of Montgomery's First United Methodist Church said, "I strongly believe in the Ten Commandments as the inspired word of God for all of us.
"I have personally been too busy trying to keep the Ten Commandments in the broad daylight to worry about a monument to the Ten Commandments that was brought into the Supreme Court Building in the middle of the night," Stegall said.
The minister took exception to criticism of Supreme Court Associate Justice Gorman Houston, who was one of eight justices who voted this week to have the monument removed from the rotunda of the Judicial Building.
Stegall said he particularily is upset by some of the sharp comments directed at Houston, who is a member of his congregation.
"To have someone refer to such a godly man as Justice Houston as a 'Judas' greatly offends me as his pastor," Stegall said. "I personally know that the associate justices are outstanding Christians of various denominations."
The Rev. Jay Wolf of the First Baptist Church on Perry Street said Friday afternoon that removal of the Ten Commandments monument from the Judicial Building lobby "is a symbol of just how far we are drifting from God.
"God has authored and sustained this nation," said Wolf, who attended the first major rally for Moore last Saturday and attended another one Thursday. "It looks like we are turning our backs on God and that is very disturbing to me."
Nell Deason of Cookville, Tenn., said she thought some Christians "are just too comfortable to rise up" and join those who have been on the front lines in their support of Moore.
"Alabama is a focal point for change and I just can't explain why more people from Montgomery are not," she said. "I do think that some Christians just don't know what's going on."
Kenneth Millican of Rising Fawn, Ga., said he had unusual accommodations Thursday night after arriving in Montgomery.
"I slept on the grass over there," said Millican, 55, who pointed to an area along Hull Street that borders the Judicial Building. "I brought along a quilt and slept on it."
Millican, who said he originally was from Valley Head in east Alabama, wore a sandwich board which said, among other things: "Impeach Myron Thompson." Thompson is the federal judge who ordered Moore to remove the two-ton monument from the lobby.
The protests had little impact on activities inside the building, where it was business as usual Friday.
"People are filing briefs and we're releasing opinions as we always do on Fridays," said Building Manager Graham George. "Appointments are being maintained, but we are not open for walk-in traffic until this situation resolves itself."
The main entrance has been locked, and those who need to conduct business are entering on McDonough Street.
From Alabama Attorney General David Pryor's response to Alabama House Minority Leader Jim Carns:
6. The state Attorney General has the duty to protect the state from wrongful interference by any party, including the federal government; what steps do you intend to take in this regard?
In accordance with my statutory authority to direct “ 11 litigation concerning the interest of the state” under section 36-15-21 of the Code of Alabama, J offered to assign attorneys from my Office to defend the Chief Justice when the lawsuits were filed against him. As you know, my Office has a fine record of success in the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. I also offered to appoint Jay Sekulow who has won several religious freedom cases in the Supreme Court, to represent the Chief Justice. From 1997 to 2001, 1 appointed Mr. Sekulow to represent Alabama officials in the Chandler school- prayer controversy. Together we won a ruling from the £leventh Circuit protecting student-led prayer. See Ghandler v. Siegelman, .230 F.3d at 1317.
The Chief Justice instead insisted that two private, out-of-state attorneys, Herb Titus and Steve Meichior, be appointed to represent him at no cost to the taxpayers. Out of respect for the Chief Justice and the separation of powers, I appointed those two private attorneys to represent him. Two assistant attorneys general in my Office represented Dr. Rich Hobson, the Administrative Director of Courts, who was named as a co-defendant in the Maddox case. Dr. Hobson was dismissed as a defendant several months before trial last year. Since then, my assistants have not been counsel in the cases. The day-to-day management of the litigation remains in the hands of the Chief Justice and his private attorneys. So far, they have been unsuccessful in their defense, and they have not requested my representation.