Posted on 08/27/2003 8:59:09 AM PDT by NWO Slave
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A chorus of demonstrators joined an irate man in screaming "Put it back!" Wednesday morning after a monument of the Ten Commandments was wheeled away from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.
"Get your hands off our God, God haters!" yelled the wildly gesturing, red-faced man who initiated the chanting.
Workers used a dolly to move the 5,280-pound granite marker from the rotunda to another, undisclosed place in the courthouse building.
Meanwhile, a Wednesday afternoon hearing to consider a lawsuit to keep the monument in the rotunda was canceled.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Mobile on behalf of a Christian radio talk show host and a pastor, says forced removal of the monument would violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.
Christian Defense Coalition Director Patrick Mahoney told the crowd of demonstrators that he wasn't told where the monument had been taken.
Because of its size and weight, the marker was presumably moved to another location on the ground floor of the building.
Mahoney said the monument would not be covered, and that he would be allowed inside to see it once it was moved. Mahoney said he was informed of the plans by building manager Graham George.
Mahoney didn't know whether the monument's new location would be accessible to the public.
The federal court had said the monument could be in a private place in the building but not in the highly visible spot in the rotunda directly across from the building's entrance.
Protest organizers asked the crowd outside not to rush the building or do anything else except pray. Some people seemed to be listening, with dozens kneeling, bowing or lying face-down in prayer in front of the judicial building and on the steps before and after the monument's removal.
The marker was wheeled away in a matter of minutes.
A federal judge in Montgomery ruled last year that the monument, which Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore (search) installed two years ago, violates the Constitution's ban on government promotion of religion and ordered its removal by Aug. 20. The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to hear Moore's appeal.
But Moore refused to comply. Eight associate justices voted Aug. 21 to remove the monument, and Moore was suspended the next day.
Attorney General Bill Pryor, defending the associate justices, filed a motion Tuesday afternoon to dismiss the latest lawsuit, saying the Mobile court lacks jurisdiction and the complaint lacks merit.
About 150 monument supporters marched on Pryor's office Tuesday, demanding he resign for supporting the associate justices' decision. Seven representatives were allowed inside to meet with Pryor's chief deputy for about 20 minutes. The rest remained outside, chanting, "Resign now! Resign now!"
Gatherings of pro-monument demonstrators outside the judicial building have grown each day in the past week to at times number in the hundreds.
People seeking removal of the monument from its public site had said they were grateful that it was finally being moved, a week after the deadline set by a federal judge.
"This is a tremendous victory for the rule of law and respect for religious diversity," the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said before the monument was rolled out of the rotunda. "Perhaps Roy Moore will soon leave the bench and move into the pulpit, which he seems better suited for."
Lynne's organization was among groups suing to remove Moore's monument, which he installed without telling the other eight Supreme Court justices.
Demonstrators promised to keep up their protests of the removal.
"If it takes 75 years to reclaim this land for righteousness, God find us and our children and our children's children ready," said the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the national clergy council.
Affirmative Action Judge Opposing Judge Roy Moore
Because at least insofar as the Christian religion is concerned, "keeping it to themselves" is precisely not what they are told to do. Inconvenient as that might be for others, it is at least internally consistent with their doctrines.
Atheism, on the other hand, has no such inherent imperative. So while atheists don't do what they recommend, thought it would be philosophically consistent for them to follow their own council, they also try to get theists to do that which atheists should be doing.
Is there a learned person on FreeRepublic who could help point me to the exact article in the Constitution where the government is banned from promoting religion?
I found two incidents of promoting in the Constitution. Neither banned the government.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I would take this to mean that if religion were good for the general welfare then the government would be obligated to promote religion. Did you notice that “We the People” felt that Liberty was a Blessing and worth securing? Who do you suppose they felt had blessed Liberty?
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
Obviously, this instruction to promote did not ban government.
I discovered one incident that mentioned religion and in this case it was quite clear that the government was forbidden, banned, and prohibited, from establishing a religion for the nation.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Is it possible that some judges are not familiar with the difference between promoting something and establishing something? I would observe that Roe v Wade did not establish abortions but I would also observe that it did promote abortions.
Perhaps - of the Church of Satan.
As I recall, the monument in Alabama included "I am the LORD thy God" as the first commandment, which concurs with the sense of modern Judaism.
The Catholic Catechism, on the other hand, shows "I am" and "no other gods ... graven images" condensed into a single first commandment, and specifies "name in vain" as the second commandment, and the third as the sabbath commandment.
Sounds like God has a thoroughly developed sense of humor to me...
Yes He did....but NOT to worship ourselves, but to bring glory and honor to Him.
Interesting. So, this girl found religion all by herself, or did her parents have something to do with it originally?
And you do understand that this assertiveness is ALWAYS going to have some backlash, don't you?
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