‘Where are the rest of the Bible believers?’
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Once again, followers of Roy Moore marched recently through downtown Montgomery, past the building that displayed his Ten Commandments monument — this time to build support for an appeal of his ouster as chief justice.
The pro-Moore assemblage, however, numbered not a couple hundred — as it did during August protests of the 5,300-pound monument’s removal, and before Moore’s November expulsion trial — but a couple dozen.
The contrast led Opelika pastor John Keeter to wonder aloud, “Where are the rest of the Bible believers?”
Moore’s appeal of his ouster will be heard Wednesday by a stand-in Supreme Court. As it nears, there is little evidence of the fervor that drew supporters from across the nation and inspired Ten Commandments displays elsewhere.
“Our hope and prayer is that Chief Justice Roy Moore is reinstated in his position,” said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, who spent much of August camped in Montgomery to support Moore. “But as the story rolls on and has these sort of rippling effects, it’s like the issue of Chief Justice Moore being reinstated does not stir the same passion in people as the monument being removed.”
To be sure, the march to the Capitol on Thursday that drew only 20 or so participants lacked the star power featured at some of the August events, such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell and former ambassador Alan Keyes. But there are other signs that the movement’s focus has shifted.
Some 190 members of the public signed up for seats to view a Nov. 12 hearing before a state judicial ethics panel, which voted the next day to expel Moore from office for refusing to obey a federal court order to move the monument. Those people, along with reporters and court officials, filled the Supreme Court’s 250-person hearing room and an overflow room at the state judicial building.
As of Monday, there was still space in the Supreme Court’s room for the public to watch the appeal, courts spokesman David Williams said.
Mahoney, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, was among the people who watched in November but won’t be in Montgomery on Wednesday.
“I think if there was any sense that a large support group would help (Moore’s) cause, I think you would see hundreds out there,” Mahoney said Monday. “But I think it’s in the hands of the lawyers and the judges now, and they’re arguing the technical aspects of the case.”
Meanwhile, Moore supporters’ summer prediction that their movement would spread across the nation is increasingly becoming reality.
Though many have been ordered removed, Ten Commandments displays have been erected in public buildings or parks in Plattsmouth, Neb.; La Crosse, Wis.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Clarkesville and Winder, Ga.; and three counties in Kentucky. Legislators in Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia have passed resolutions calling on Congress to protect such displays, and Florida lawmakers are mulling a similar measure.
Moore himself has been barnstorming the country, speaking to religious and political groups across the South and as far away as Arizona, Illinois and Pennsylvania. He’s also behind a bill in Congress that would restrict federal courts from hearing cases involving acknowledgments of God.
Moore’s spokeswoman, Jessica Atteberry, said his speaking engagements and legislative push haven’t superseded his effort to be restored as chief justice, “because the appeal and the legislation and his speeches are working toward the same goal, as far as the acknowledgment of God.”
John Giles, president of the Alabama Christian Coalition, suggested interest has waned because media outlets have paid less attention to the appeal.
“But don’t misread the intensity” of Christian activists, Giles said. “We are at an all-time high of awareness of federal courts eroding the Constitution and religious liberties.”
The Rev. Frank Raddish, who organized the lightly attended rally Thursday, said the continuing support of Moore should be measured by the number of people contacting their legislators about religious issues.
“We didn’t waste the day,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Samira Jafari contributed to this story.