(Photo by Karen Brewer)

U.S. Congressman Gresham Barrett greets 'Ten Commandments Judge'
Roy Moore of Alabama after introducing him at the Blessings of Liberty Rally
sponsored by First Foundations, Inc.


      “Acknowledgment of God is not a violation of the First Amendment. In fact, it is the very basis upon which the First Amendment exists.” 
      Judge Roy Moore spoke those words during an interview prior to the Blessings of Liberty Rally sponsored by First Foundations, Inc. 
      “Our present courts do not understand the connection between God and our nation, in terms of morality,” he said. “For example, we don’t have marriage between a man and a woman because somebody dreamed it up. It comes from Scripture. 
      “When we remove acknowledgment of God, we lose our national morality.” 
      Moore, then the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice dubbed ‘The Ten Commandments Judge’, had stated in 2003 that, despite a federal court order, he would not remove from the rotunda of his state’s judicial building a 5,300-pound granite monument, upon which The Ten Commandments are engraved. 
      “I received a notice from a federal district judge to remove the monument because it acknowledged the Judeo-Christian God,” Moore said, in the interview. “In essence, it told me to remove the monument and deny the existence and identity of God. It was something I couldn’t do.” 
      A judicial panel ordered that Moore be removed from his position for ‘defying’ the federal court order. 
      During his hearing, Moore was asked by Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor if he would continue to acknowledge God, “no matter what any other official says,” if he were to remain in his duties as Chief Justice. “Without an acknowledgment of God, I cannot do my duty,” Moore answered. “I must acknowledge God. It says so in the Constitution of Alabama. It says so in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.” 
      What made his stance worth it? “Truth,” answered Moore. “Truth upon which our Constitution is based. We forget that government doesn’t give us rights. Government’s role is to secure the rights that God gave us.” 
      The Blessings of Liberty Rally held at the Palmetto Expo Center in Greenville was sponsored by First Foundations, Inc. “Since 1986, we at First Foundations have been cheerleaders for the United States Constitution and the Bible,” said President Dick Jensen. “We base our mission on Psalms 11:3: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? We are trying to answer the question by promoting responsible citizenship in a nonpartisan way. Our three focuses are constitutional government, nuclear families, and Biblical religion.” 
      During the rally, community leaders read aloud the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights and a poem written by Moore.
      Moore was introduced by last year’s keynote speaker for the Blessings of Liberty Rally, Congressman Gresham Barrett, who thanked Moore for his stance. “Above all, he is a devout Christian and a principled man who is dedicated to his family,” Barrett said of Moore. He then read the following poem written by Moore: One nation under God was their cry and declaration. Upon the law of nature’s God, they built a mighty nation. For unlike mankind before them who had walked this earthen sod, these men would never question the sovereignty of God. While truth and law were founded on the God of all creation, man now through law denies the truth and calls it separation. No longer does man see a need for God, when he’s in full control, for the only truth self-evident is the latest poll.
      “Those are powerful words that ring true for every single one of us, and especially for me, as a United States Congressman,” said Barrett. “I admire the Judge’s courage, his passion, the values he represents and strives to live by every day.” 
      Moore thanked Barrett, stating, “Congressman Barrett is indeed well recognized in the United States Congress. You are honored to have such an individual serving this state.” 
      He also thanked Jensen and First Foundations, Inc. for their work and for the opportunity to speak at the Blessings of Liberty Rally. 
      Moore asked the audience of hundreds if they knew the relationship between the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights. “Have we been forgetful of where our blessings come from?” he asked. 
      Referring to what he called hypocrisy in government, he noted that Congress and the United States Supreme Court open with prayer, and the President is sworn in on the Bible and states, So help me God, but children cannot pray in schools. “What hypocrisy,” he said. “Jesus addressed it in the Scribes and the Pharisees, the holders of the laws in those days. He said, ‘Ye hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you. This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth. They honoreth me with their lips. But their heart is far from me. In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ Some of his disciples came to him and said, ‘Master, do you not know that you offended the Scribes and Pharisees?’ Jesus said, ‘Every plant that my father hath not planted shall be rooted up. If the blind follow the blind, they both shall fall in the ditch.’ Are we headed to the ditch? Are we blind followers of blind leaders? Some might argue we are when we marry two men or marry two women. Some might argue we are when our laws against sodomy are stricken down by the United States Supreme Court. Some might argue we are when they start letting us kill the life within us.” 
      Referring to his own case, in which the granite Ten Commandments monument was ordered removed from the Rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building, Moore said, “The issue in Alabama is no different than the issue in the Ninth Circuit when they struck down the words ‘One Nation Under God’ in The Pledge of Allegiance. Get the issue straight, Christians. It is whether or not the state can acknowledge God. Is it important? It is vitally important. Our country was founded on acknowledgment that there is a God who created you and gave you life and liberty and allowed you to pursue happiness, and that government’s only role was to pursue these rights for you. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 
      “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do? 
      “If government pretends to give you rights, it denies the giver of those rights. What government gives, government can take away. What God gives, no man can take away. 
      “We were one nation under God on July 4, 1776,” he said. “Indeed, that’s the very reason our forefathers came to this country, ‘For the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.’ That’s what they said in The Mayflower Compact before they got off the ship.” 
      Moore said that he traveled to New York City, to stand at the site where our nation’s first President, George Washington, stood when he was sworn into office on April 30, 1789. 
      “The same small chapel, St. Paul’s, is still there. It was built in 1766. It is the oldest continuously used structure in New York City. St. Paul’s still stands where it was in 1766, 10 years before the Declaration of Independence and more than 20 years before the President, Vice President, House, and Senate went there.” He then told the location of the chapel, what once was between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Referring to the destruction of the World Trade Center by terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Moore said, “St. Paul’s Chapel didn’t suffer one broken glass, one destroyed pane. It stood there to do what it did in 1789. It took care of our country. The survivors, policemen, and firemen brought the wounded, people who had been injured, into that chapel.” 
      At the altar in the chapel, God’s name shines down on two tablets of The Ten Commandments. “Washington and Adams and the Congress and the Senate sat before those Ten Commandments the very day they were sworn into office,” Moore said. 

                        
                                                                                 (Photo by Karen Brewer)

                               Judge Roy Moore reads from Scripture.


      “The First Amendment, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, is used today to restrict any acknowledgment of God, as it was in my case. Every religious case falls under that law. It’s that law the courts use to restrict The Ten Commandments, to restrict the acknowledgment of God over affairs of state. But guess what Congress did on that day, September 25, 1789, when they approved the final words of the amendment? Here’s the legislative history. They resolved that a joint committee of both houses be directed to wait upon the President and requested that he recommend of her people a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity to peacefully establish a constitution of government for their safety and happiness. They acknowledged God as their first act. They weren’t talking about just any God. They knew who God was. They weren’t talking about Islam. They weren’t talking about Buddha. They weren’t talking about Hinduism. They were talking about Christianity. America today has forgotten that. Federal courts take that amendment and say you can’t acknowledge God. How foolish. Washington didn’t think that. Eight days later, he did what Congress asked him to do, for the day of public thanksgiving and prayer. He realized that the blessings of liberty come from God, not from government, and that to refuse to recognize God denies those blessings. 
      “The First Amendment’s only purpose was to allow you to worship God. The First Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights. It was to restrict the federal government from interfering with the way the states worship God. 
      “Separation of church of state comes from Jefferson’s letter. But did Jefferson separate God? His last sentence says, ‘I reciprocate your kind prayers for protection and blessings from the Father, creator of man.’ That was on January 1, 1802. Two days later, he was in church, listening to a Baptist minister, in Congress, where they held church throughout his administration. 
      “How have we been deceived? Jefferson never separated God and government. He said that God gave us our rights and that government was there to secure them, and that if they didn’t, government should be abolished. He meant to separate the way government tells you that you can worship God, and when government tells you that you can’t worship God, it violates the whole doctrine of church and state. 
      “Pray for your country. Only God can return our country. He said, If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Only God can heal it."
     


      Links: www.morallaw.org

               www.firstfound.us