October 23, 2002 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article)

Roy Moore, who was elected Chief Justice of Alabama in 2000, is on trial for displaying the Ten Commandments in the Judicial Building. He was sued by three liberal organizations, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans for Separation of Church and State, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, for allegedly creating an uncomfortable and unconstitutional religious presence in Alabama's Supreme Court.

Moore, an outspoken Christian and very knowledgeable of the influence of Christianity upon early American history, ordered the installation of a 5,300-pound granite monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the state Judicial Building. The suit seeks the removal of this monument.

The trial began on Tuesday, October 15, and the testimony phase ended on Tuesday, October 22.

During the trial, Chief Justice Moore displayed his great knowledge of the history of America and the intimate role of the Bible and Christianity on its institutions and its system of law. In the words of the Montgomery Advertiser:

"Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore opened wide his personal font of knowledge on God, government and law Friday, flooding U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's courtroom with his arguments why the Ten Commandments belong in the state Judicial Building. In vintage Moore style, Alabama's top jurist reeled off quote after quote from dozens of sources, from George Washington to the Bible to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to 16th century British philosopher John Locke to Thomas Jefferson's 'Letter to the Dansbury Baptists.' Moore used all that and much more to support his claim that America's founders never intended to separate God from government in the First Amendment. In fact, it's God that provides all of our freedoms, not the laws of men, Moore said" ("Moore defines faith stance," Advertiser, Oct. 19, 2002).

Following are some of Chief Justice's statements during the trial:

"The God acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence and throughout our history [is the] God of the Holy Scriptures."

"Without a knowledge of this God, there would be no First Amendment religious clause. The duties owed to God cannot be interfered with by government."

"the acknowledgment of God is not prohibited by the First Amendment. It does not prohibit the acknowledgment of God by anyone, including a public official. It doesn't prohibit it by the state. Clearly, we do so in our Pledge, on the money we carry, in the Supreme Court, in our Constitution."

"I feel very strongly that the monument represents the moral foundation of law, which is greatly needed in our country today. The monument does not establish a state religion in violation of the Constitution, it merely acknowledges the role God and the Ten Commandments have played throughout the history of American law and government."

"all mentions of God are being taken out [of America's public life or reduced to a ceremonial role]. You can say them as long as you don't believe them. That's the greatest offense to God.

Chief Justice Moore, a Southern Baptist, began his battle for the display of the Ten Commandments in 1992, when he was appointed circuit judge in rural Etowah County to replace Judge Julius Swann, who had died before the end of his term. Moore hung a wooden plague of the Ten Commandments on the wall of the courtroom, and the ACLU sued him. In spite of the suit, or perhaps because of it, Moore won the general election to the office in 1994.

In 1996, Circuit Judge Charles Price ruled that the Ten Commandments display was unconstitutional and ordered it removed. Eventually, the Alabama Supreme Court threw out the case on technical issues and never ruled, and Moore was free to leave the Commandments in his Etowah County courtroom (Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 13, 2002).

In 2000, Moore ran for state chief justice as the "Ten Commandments Judge" and won. Within six months of being seated in January 2001, he had the two-ton granite monument installed; and the ACLU and their anti-Bible friends sued.

Chief Justice Moore is an outspoken Christian in every area. In February of this year, he ruled against a lesbian mother who was fighting for custody of her child. In that ruling, he called homosexuality "an inherent evil." Homosexual groups, of course, were enraged and called for his impeachment, though nothing came of it.

The testimony phrase of the trial is finished but the verdict has not been announced. We should pray for a godly outcome. It is a very important case, which might eventually reach the Supreme Court. The judge overseeing the trial is Myron Thompson.

Ultimately, though, these are not battles that will be permanently won, unless there is a powerful spiritual revival in the churches across the land. America is wicked because she does not fear God, and she does not fear God because of the cowardice, compromise, and apostasy in the pulpits. Unless that root problem changes, nothing can stem the downward slide toward destruction.