Judge Defends Commandments in Courtroom

Judge Roy S. Moore, the Alabama jurist who is locked in a legal struggle to keep a handcrafted replica of the Ten Commandments on his courtroom wall, said he is at the center of a debate about Americans’ acknowledgment of God.

“The issue is . . . ripe,” Moore said. “The issue of the acknowledgment of God in this country is at a point which . . . there must be a decision made. Are we still one nation under God? Do we still acknowledge a higher law?”

Moore made his comments this week in accepting the 1997 Christian Statesman of the Year Award from the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship.

The 50-year-old circuit court judge is awaiting a hearing date before the Alabama Supreme Court in a lawsuit filed against him by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is seeking to end religious practices in Moore’s courtroom.

Moore had a practice of opening his court with a prayer by a Protestant minister and posted the Ten Commandments behind his bench.

The ACLU sued to eliminate the prayers and the Ten Commandments display, arguing both were unconstitutional. Alabama Gov. Fob James weighed in on the issue in February, declaring he would call out the National Guard to stop federal authorities from removing the Ten Commandments.

Moore’s attorney, Steve Melchior, said he expects the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 18-by-24-inch plaque at the center of the controversy was carved by the judge in 1980 from a gift of redwood. It adorned his home and law office before he moved it to his courtroom in 1992.

“It’s absolutely incredible to think that we could purport to be a nation under God and can’t acknowledge his providence,” Moore said. “I can say about the display of the Ten Commandments being constitutional, I feel more strongly today than I ever have that it is constitutional and certainly not against the law.”

Frank Wright, director of the Center for Christian Statesmanship, presented the award to Moore on Wednesday.

Phil Baum, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said the award honoring Moore was inappropriate because he has “made it clear that those who are not part of the ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’ are considered second-class citizens before his bench.”

Moore responded, “That’s completely false.”

But the Etowah County judge said he would not invite a Buddhist or a Hindu or others who don’t believe in a “Judeo-Christian God” to open a court session with prayer.

“It’s certainly not discriminatory because the United States Supreme Court does not open with ‘Buddha save the United States and this honorable court,’ the United States Congress doesn’t acknowledge the Hindu god, the president of the United States doesn’t place his hand on the Koran or on any other books of faith except the holy Bible,” he said. “If they’re not discriminatory, I’m not discriminatory.”

A similar dispute recently flared in Los Angeles County when a businessman went to court seeking to post the Ten Commandments in an advertisement along the outfield fence of the Downey High School baseball field.

The businessman said he was simply exercising his 1st Amendment rights, while opponents said the display would compromise the constitutional wall separating church and state, paving the way for more problematic religious messages at the baseball field. School officials have since taken down all signs at the high school field, and contend the issue is now moot.