MONTGOMERY, August 27, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A moving crew has now relocated Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s 5,280-pound granite monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building to a “non-public” location. The move was in compliance with a federal court order, and occurred as “anguished protesters prayed at the building’s steps,” the Associated Press stated. Although protestors identify the monument with religious freedom, American Evangelical Christians are divided over the merits of Justice Roy Moore’s monument to the Ten Commandments. Prominent supporters include James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, and the Family Research Council. Dobson says the dispute is a matter of defending basic liberties. Opponents include televangelist Pat Robertson; Jay Sekulow, the chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice; and Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Land says the issue is no longer the monument or what it represents, but the legitimacy of federal rulings: “Do evangelical Christians really want to say that this United States government is no longer a legitimate government and that we are no longer obligated to obey its courts when we disagree with their rulings?”
For Washington Times coverage: https://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20030827-121019-9379r.htm For ABC News coverage of the move: https://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030827_713.html Protesters React Angrily to Monument Removal https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95837,00.html For previous LifeSite coverage: Suspended Alabama Judge Defends Ten Commandments Monument https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/aug/03082606.html