- MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A chorus
of demonstrators joined an irate man in screaming "Put it back!"
Wednesday morning after a monument of the Ten Commandments (search) was
wheeled away from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.
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- "Get your hands off our God, God haters!" yelled
the wildly gesturing, red-faced man who initiated the chanting.
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- Workers used a dolly to move the 5,280-pound granite
marker from the rotunda to another, undisclosed place in the courthouse
building.
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- Meanwhile, a Wednesday afternoon hearing to consider
a lawsuit to keep the monument in the rotunda was canceled.
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- The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Mobile
on behalf of a Christian radio talk show host and a pastor, says forced
removal of the monument would violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom
of religion.
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- Christian Defense Coalition (search) Director Patrick
Mahoney told the crowd of demonstrators that he wasn't told where the monument
had been taken.
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- Because of its size and weight, the marker was presumably
moved to another location on the ground floor of the building.
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- Mahoney said the monument would not be covered, and that
he would be allowed inside to see it once it was moved. Mahoney said he
was informed of the plans by building manager Graham George.
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- Mahoney didn't know whether the monument's new location
would be accessible to the public.
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- The federal court had said the monument could be in a
private place in the building but not in the highly visible spot in the
rotunda directly across from the building's entrance.
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- Protest organizers asked the crowd outside not to rush
the building or do anything else except pray. Some people seemed to be
listening, with dozens kneeling, bowing or lying face-down in prayer in
front of the judicial building and on the steps before and after the monument's
removal.
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- The marker was wheeled away in a matter of minutes.
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- A federal judge in Montgomery ruled last year that the
monument, which Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore (search) installed two
years ago, violates the Constitution's ban on government promotion of religion
and ordered its removal by Aug. 20. The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined
to hear Moore's appeal.
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- But Moore refused to comply. Eight associate justices
voted Aug. 21 to remove the monument, and Moore was suspended the next
day.
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- Attorney General Bill Pryor, defending the associate
justices, filed a motion Tuesday afternoon to dismiss the latest lawsuit,
saying the Mobile court lacks jurisdiction and the complaint lacks merit.
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- About 150 monument supporters marched on Pryor's office
Tuesday, demanding he resign for supporting the associate justices' decision.
Seven representatives were allowed inside to meet with Pryor's chief deputy
for about 20 minutes. The rest remained outside, chanting, "Resign
now! Resign now!"
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- Gatherings of pro-monument demonstrators outside the
judicial building have grown each day in the past week to at times number
in the hundreds.
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- People seeking removal of the monument from its public
site had said they were grateful that it was finally being moved, a week
after the deadline set by a federal judge.
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- "This is a tremendous victory for the rule of law
and respect for religious diversity," the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive
director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said before
the monument was rolled out of the rotunda. "Perhaps Roy Moore will
soon leave the bench and move into the pulpit, which he seems better suited
for."
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- Lynne's organization was among groups suing to remove
Moore's monument, which he installed without telling the other eight Supreme
Court justices.
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- Demonstrators promised to keep up their protests of the
removal.
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- "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, president of the national clergy council.
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- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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