Alabama judge stands by decision

defending the First Amendment against the Christian right ...

... because if Jews don't speak out, they'll think we don't mind

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Alabama judge stands by decision

Ten Commandments rock acknowledged God, Moore says

By Amanda Reavy, The State Journal-Register (Springfield, Illinois), July 9, 2006

A small pin in the shape of the Ten Commandment slabs adorns the lapel of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's suit jacket.

In his pocket, he carries a copy of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, which affirms the presence of a "supreme being" and natural law within the universe and is believed to have been a guide to the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

Both illustrate Moore's strong belief that the United States was founded in recognition and praise of God's sovereignty. However, the American justice system has turned its back on citizens' right to acknowledge this sovereignty, creating a culture of hypocrisy, Moore says.

"Did you ever know that was the whole purpose of this country - to glorify God? Have we forgotten our history?" he asked a crowd of more than 100 people Saturday night. " Have we been deceived by the Harvard and Yale law professors who will tell you God has nothing to do with this country?"

Moore, better known as the Ten Commandments judge, spoke during the 5:30 p.m. service at Calvary Temple Christian Center, 1730 W. Jefferson St.

In late 2003, Moore was ousted as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court after disobeying a federal court order to remove a 5,300-pound monument of the Ten Commandments he had erected in the rotunda of the Supreme Court building. He has since become a prominent spokesman for the religious right.

Emphasizing what he called Americans' rights to recognize God under the Constitution, Moore also greeted attendees individually and signed copies of his book, "So Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny, and the Battle for Religious Freedom."

At the start of Saturday's presentation, he highlighted a quote from Abraham Lincoln in 1863 about the nation's departure from its religious roots: "We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own..."

Moore maintains that the same can be said of America today.

He said its hypocritical for the U.S. Supreme Court to open its sessions with the words, "God save the United States," and for U.S. currency to bear the phrase "In God we trust," while children are not allowed to pray in school and his monument to the Ten Commandments was rejected.

"It wasn't about the rock. It wasn't about religion. It was about the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God," he said.

Since the country's founding, Moore said, God has been an integral part of our laws and government, citing George Washington's first presidential proclamation that set aside a day of Thanksgiving to "acknowledge with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God."

However, in the 1960s, Moore said the justice system began to interpret the First Amendment differently and sought to squelch the acknowledgement of a higher power.

"This is something they changed and started saying that you can only recognize God if you do it historically. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court said in 2005 they approved the display of the Ten Commandments in Texas, and they disapproved and declared unconstitutional the display in Kentucky on the basis, as long as you do it historically, you can do it. But, you can't do it reverently - that is religion," Moore said. "That's wrong. That's a false interpretation of the First Amendment."

Moore, 59, is scheduled to speak again at Calvary today at 9 and 10:30 a.m. He said he will further explain how the intent of the First Amendment has been misinterpreted to deny people's rights to acknowledge God.

He said he has been heavily involved in speaking engagements across the country for political and church groups as well as colleges and universities.

Today, Moore devotes much of his time to the Foundation for Moral Law, which according to its Web site aims to defend citizens' right to acknowledge God, teach the public about the country's "Godly foundation," and help reform our society to maintain biblical morals and values.

Moore, who recently lost the Republican primary for Alabama governor, says he would like to become more politically active in addition to his speaking engagements.

"There are some bad things going on, and the political parties are not addressing them... We're losing the sovereignty of our country into a world order which will not recognize the rights given by God, and I'll do everything I can to stop it," he said.

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