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Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003

Workers inside the Montgomery building installed rope lines surrounding the monument shortly after 8 a.m. EDT as hundreds of supporters of suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore prayed and sang songs on the building's steps. It was moved to an undisclosed site in the courthouse.

"It is a sad day in our country when the moral foundation of our law and the acknowledgement of God have to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge," Moore said.

His supporters, led by Christian Defense Coalition, filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Mobile to block the removal. A hearing on that case scheduled for Wednesday afternoon has been canceled.

The 2.6-ton granite monument was placed in another part of the judicial building and removed from its public display in the rotunda.

Moore, who placed the monument in the rotunda in August 2001 and was suspended for refusing to remove it, has vowed to continue the fight to keep his job and the monument.

"This is a tremendous victory for the rule of law and respect for religious diversity," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "Perhaps Roy Moore will soon leave the bench and move into the pulpit, which he seems better suited for."

Demonstrators promised to keep up their protests. "If it takes 75 years to reclaim this land for righteousness, God find us and our children and our children's children ready," said the Rev. Rob Schenck.

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

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