Movers Haul Away Ten Commandments in Montgomery

FOXNews.com ^ | Wednesday, August 27, 2003

[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

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..oh, BTW, I'm still waiting for you to provide some evidence...

I already have, Dobie. The link above proves beyond question that George Washington was a committed Christian.

Now, let me guess. You're not going to show a bit of character and reply, 'I was wrong, Byron. One point to you.' You're going to come back with some hair-splitting technicality, or complete irrelevancy, to 'prove' there's some doubt about Washington being a Christian, right?

Go for it. We can all do with some more laughs, at your expense.

[Virginia-American]

...a total lack of respect for the will of the people of Alabama ...

1) the Alabama Legislature didn't mandate this. Perhaps if they had, the courthouse would be decorated more along the lines of the USSC (Hamurabi, Confusius, Solon, et al.) and there wouldn't be a problem.

2) how come it was a surprise to the rest of the Ala. SC?

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..Byron is a socialist, he believes in the collective mind...

Uh huh.

So, I'm a socialist, Judge Moore's a crook, and Washington was an atheist?

You do realise your little clique are the new tin foil hatters here, don't you?

[jwalsh07]

What I find odd is the amount of hubris it takes to claim that you know Washington better than a woman who spent 20 years of her life with him.

"To say that he [George Washington] was not a Christian would be to impeach his sincerity and honesty. Of all men in the world, Washington was certainly the last whom any one would charge with dissimulation or indirectness [hypocrisies and evasiveness]; and if he was so scrupulous in avoiding even a shadow of these faults in every known act of his life, [regardless of] however unimportant, is it likely, is it credible, that in a matter of the highest and most serious importance [his religious faith, that] he should practice through a long series of years a deliberate deception upon his friends and the public? It is neither credible nor possible." Jared Sparks

Did Sparks have an agenda or do you?

[RoughDobermann]

I already have, Dobie. The link above proves beyond question that George Washington was a committed Christian.

Pardon me, but what link?

Now, let me guess. You're not going to show a bit of character and reply, 'I was wrong, Byron. One point to you.' You're going to come back with some hair-splitting technicality, or complete irrelevancy, to 'prove' there's some doubt about Washington being a Christian, right?

As I've said now many times, please provide some proof of your assertion that Washington was a Christian. If you can't, fine. If you can, I'd love to see it. And, I really do mean that, whether you choose to accept that or not.

Go for it. We can all do with some more laughs, at your expense.

No offense, but the only person I see laughing here is you, and sophomoric laughter at that.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Washington was an atheist?"

I've never said that, but you've never been one to allow accuracy to get in your way.

[jwalsh07]

And Wsahington's daughter is a secondary, not primary, source

Just what is a primary source.? President Washington is deceased and unable to talk with you directly. :-}

[RoughDobermann]

Please see 560. If we can assume those are her own words, she didn't know the religious side of him and what he actually believed at all. Wouldn't you agree?

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..as I've said now many times, please provide some proof of your assertion that Washington was a Christian...

Click on the link provided, Dobie. Don't be afraid. The truth will set you free.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Please do not spam the Forum with huge blocks of irrelevant text, by way of camouflaging your own dearth of argument. Thanks in advance, Byron

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[Byron_the_Aussie]

..if we can assume those are her own words...

Washington's daughter's a liar, now?

Blimey. Let's get this straight. The gospel according to Dobie & Co, all of which have just as much credibility:

1. Washington was an atheist

2. Washington's daughter lied about her father's Christianity

3. Judge Moore's a crook who only wants to be Governor of Alabama

4. Byron's a socialist

5. Dobie's honestly seeking the truth.

[jwalsh07]

ANd what of his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation?

Deists do not ask the Lord for divine intervention.

Or are you claiming he was an atheist just mouthing platitutdes to the Almighty to please the peasents?

[RoughDobermann]

Just what is a primary source.? President Washington is deceased and unable to talk with you directly. :-}

Thanks for injecting a little humor! :-) To most historians (yes there are some), a primary source is one that is directly attributable to the source is question; e.g., a manuscript (or diary or letters) written by Washington's hand, photographs, et al. Washington's daughter speaking about her father's religious foundation is, IMO, a secondary source. She clearly states that she " never witnessed his private devotions. I never inquired about them. I should have thought it the greatest heresy to doubt his firm belief in Christianity. His life, his writings, prove that he was a Christian." His writings do not (as far as I've found so far) support her assertions.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...President Washington is deceased and unable to talk with you directly. :-}...

You don't think Dobie would take the President's word for it, do you JW?

No. General Washington would need a battery of polygraphs and some sodium pentothal, and then Dobie would still take it under advisement.

[F16Fighter]

"Just what is a primary source.? President Washington is deceased and unable to talk with you directly. :-}"

LOL...

Dob, ya gotta give John a little slack, dontcha think?

[RoughDobermann]

Click on the link provided, Dobie. Don't be afraid. The truth will set you free.

Again, what link? The one about delusion? Yes, that was very informative, thanks. I'm sure that you have it prominently bookmarked for when you need it to explain your bizarre behavior.

[Mortimer Snavely]

"Is the seat of legal power in the state really the right place to promote the TRUTH that there are indeed concepts that transcend the authority of the state?"

Obviously so, to let people know that the power holders who work there know that they are responsible to something beyond their own power.

As for what Jesus would have done, His entire mission on Earth was to be crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. Salvation is up for God.

Life after death, being completely subordinate to the will of God, is not my concern. Rational, sane life after birth here in this world is the only thing on which I can have any possible influence.

[RoughDobermann]

1. Washington was an atheist

No, from the primary source material that we have, he obviously was not.

2. Washington's daughter lied about her father's Christianity

Given her words about her lack of knowledge about her father's faith in her letter to Jared, how can we assume she knew anything about it?

3. Judge Moore's a crook who only wants to be Governor of Alabama

I don't know that.

4. Byron's a socialist

I don't know that, nor do I care. You have demonstrated a penchant for asinine behavior, however.

5. Dobie's honestly seeking the truth.

Of course I am. What else is there?

[jwalsh07]

Washingtons Order on Profanity invoking the blessings of HEAVEN.

That the Troops may have an opportunity of attending public worship, as well as take some rest after the great fatigue they have gone through; The General in future excuses them from fatigue duty on Sundays (except at the Ship Yards, or special occasions) until further orders.[1] The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing (a Vice heretofore little known in an American Army) is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavour to check it, and that both they, and the men will reflect, that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our Arms, if we insult it by our impiety, and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense, and character, detests and despises.

[RoughDobermann]

Dob, ya gotta give John a little slack, dontcha think?

Hey! I did! :-) 573