WorldNetDaily reports Moore must respond to a complaint that he is in defiance of a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building. That commission could decide to file charges with the State Court of the Judiciary, a move which could result in an immediate suspension for Moore.

Yesterday, eight associate justices of the Alabama Supreme Court overruled Moore's rejection of the federal order, saying they are "bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it." They have instructed the building manager to remove the monument "as soon as is practical."

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on the steps of the state judicial building
[Photo by Gary McCullough, Christian Communication Network]

In a speech from the steps of the judicial building Thursday, the chief justice responded to this development. "I was very disappointed with my colleagues on the court who have decided to act in response to Judge Myron Thompson's order [to remove the Ten Commandments monument]. Let me assure you, the fight to defend our constitutional rights to acknowledge God must and will continue," Moore said.

The Alabama chief justice told the cheering crowd that Judge Thompson, in ruling that the presence of the monument in the state judicial building is unconstitutional, had placed himself above the law and also above God.

See a Photo Tribute to the Ten Commandments Monument

"The people of this state elected me ... to uphold our constitution, which establishes our justice system, evoking the 'favor and guidance' of Almighty God. To do my duty, I must acknowledge God. That's what this case is about," Moore said.

Moore said he plans to file a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to rule on the merits of the case. If at least four high court justices vote in favor of granting the writ, this petition would compel the lower federal court to transfer the case file to the Supreme Court for a new hearing.

The Montgomery Face-Off Continues
Meanwhile, Moore's supporters are continuing to rally in Montgomery in efforts to prevent officials from carrying out the removal order. More than a hundred people took part in a Thursday noontime march in Montgomery to support the fight to keep the Ten Commandments monument. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition has been involved in organizing local demonstrations.

"Should they try to remove this monument, we will, as we did on Wednesday, peacefully and prayerfully intervene," Mahoney says.

The protest leaders says demonstrators heard of a plan to take away the monument Wednesday evening. Police attempted to clear the building, and 22 of Mahoney's group were arrested as they knelt around the monument or in front of building exits, hoping to block removal attempts.

On Thursday the granite monument was concealed from public view, but the barricade later came down. The building has since remained closed. As police and members of the media mill around the building, Christian activists are praying, displaying signs, and encouraging one another.

Supporters Call for Reinforcements
Many are adding their voices to the call for support. John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama is asking for more Christians to come to the judicial building and join in the effort to keep the monument in place. And Flip Benham of Operation Save America (operationsaveamerica.org) agrees that the time has come for people of faith to take action.

"What we have to do is stand with a man who is going to stand on principle about God's word .... The Supreme Court thinks it's God, and we have to have men of God who say, God is God -- you are not supreme," Benham says.

Another of Moore's supporters is Christian activist Randall Terry, who says the whole issue revolves around one question. "Are we willing to stand up to judicial tyrants and to state the Ten Commandments is the foundation of moral ethics and our political laws?" he asks.

Terry contends that if American Christians will not stand up for the right to display God's law as Moore is doing, they are allowing their government to muzzle free expression of religion, much as Nazi and Communist dictators have done in other countries in the past.

"Our government is behaving like Mao Tse-Tung or Josef Stalin or Adolf Hitler, where there is a conscious effort to drive the Ten Commandments out of the public square," the activist says.

Terry is calling for Christians from all across the nation to gather at the judicial building so there will never be a "practical time" to remove the monument.

Some Believe Moore Is Wrong
But while many Christians are applauding Moore for his stand, others are saying the chief justice is wrong to disobey the federal court's order to remove the monument. Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission agrees with the other eight members of the Alabama Supreme Court in their decision to comply.

The Southern Baptist spokesman says those justices and other state officials may agree in principle with Moore, but they cannot support what he is doing. He says Moore is taking the law into his own hands by refusing to obey the court's ruling.

"That's why his fellow justices -- also elected by the people of Alabama -- voted eight-to-one to comply ... and why the attorney general and the governor of the State of Alabama both said that, while they were in basic agreement with Moore on the issue, they applauded the other justices for doing their duty," Land says.

Land says the Alabama chief justice is out of line, and he is surprised by the number of people who are siding with him.

"I find it staggering that there are people out there supporting Judge Moore's open defiance of this court order who at the same time say 'We want judges who will only interpret the law and not make law.'"

Land says he also thinks the federal court's decision is wrong, but that Christians must adhere to the rule of law. "We cannot have judges deciding for themselves which laws they're going to obey," he says.

A Call for Unity
Not far from the center of all this controversy is another symbolic site in U.S. history and the tradition of civil disobedience. The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church is two blocks west of Alabama's judicial building. That church was the site from which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., organized the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955.

Now, nearly five decades later, J.L. Rutledge, a black pastor from Pelham, Alabama, is at the judicial building supporting the public display of the Ten Commandments. He says it is a battle Dr. King would have been a part of.

"This effort represents the unification of Christians in the State of Alabama. Dr. King would have been here to show that he had love, not only for Judge Moore, but for the movement which God gave him," Rutledge says.

While Christians of many different backgrounds have gathered in Montgomery to stand with Moore for the Ten Commandments, Rutledge says he is disappointed more African American pastors have not been supporting the chief justice.

Unless otherwise noted, photos are by Allie Martin of American Family Radio News.

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