The judge who was suspended from office after refusing to remove a Ten Commandments plaque in a courthouse spoke on Sept. 2, during dinner fundraising to defend a Ten Commandments challenge in Barrow County, Georgia.
Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told the 400 people at the Barrow County Recreation Center, “Christians are, indeed, engaged in a spiritual battle,” reminding them, “we do need an army and every one of you are in it."
He added, “There will be no cease-fire. There will be no truce.”
Proceeds from the $50-a-plate dinner will benefit Barrow County government’s defense against a American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, filed nearly a year ago challenging the constitutionality of a framed poster of the Ten Commandments hung in the courthouse.
County Commissioner Bill Brown admitted in April that he had anonymously put up the frame copy of the Ten Commandments, which had been donated by a local resident, in the spring or summer of 2002, never expecting the publicity or the lawsuit.
The event was sponsored by Ten Commandments-Georgia Inc., Moore's own organization, The Foundation for Moral Law, and Colorado-based Focus on the Family.
Moore was suspended last year after refusing to remove his self-owned 5,285-pound Ten Commandment monument placed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. He now is awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear his appeal to be restored to office.
Brown said Moore's visit would revitalize interest in the case and spur donations for the legal fight. Ten Commandments-Georgia Inc., which was formed to raise money for the lawsuit, has to date raised about $150,000.
According to Moore, the issue is bigger than fighting for the right to display the Ten Commandments in a public building and is not about allowing government endorsement of any particular religion.
"It’s not about the Ten Commandments,” Moore said. “The question is, ‘Can the state acknowledge God? Can you recognize a supreme being?’ It’s not about religion. It’s not about pushing your religion on other people.”
The case is John Doe v. Barrow County, Georgia.
