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Monument of Ten Commandments Moved Out of Public View

Aired August 27, 2003 - 11:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Workers wheeled the monument of the Ten Commandments out of public view in the last hour. Protesters who wanted the religious display to stay in its place, despite a federal court ruling, were helpless to do more than just sit there, watch and pray.
And our Brian Cabell is standing there amongst the crowd. He is in Montgomery this morning, and he joins us now live at the scene this hour -- Brian.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

We heard rumors for the last two or three days that the monument would definitely be moving. It didn't move the last couple of days, but just about an hour or so, it was finally moved. It didn't seem to take all that long. It's been moved to another room out of public view as we understand it within the justice building.

And with me right now, one of the leaders of the protest group outside, Reverend Pat Mahoney. Reverend, you've been here for a week. The idea was to keep it from being moved. It was moved today. Is this something of a defeat?

REV. PAT MAHONEY, CHRISTIAN DEFENSE COALITION: It's certainly not a defeat for us. It may be a defeat for -- on some level for free speech and religious expression, but we believe what's happened here will ripple out across the nation. Everyone's been looking at it, the issue of unbridled federal judicial power. In Washington, we're seeing the struggle over filibustering for federal judges.

The fact, does the Ten Commandments belong in the public square? We don't view this as a defeat at all. In fact, we are still calling people to come to Montgomery, to take a look in that rotunda where the Ten Commandments once stood, and say if we do not act now and make a difference, this is the future of religious expression in the public square.

CABELL: Do we know yet who moved it?

MAHONEY: No, we're trying to find out. As you know, I met with Mr. George, the building manager, at 7:45. He told me that shortly the process, 7:45 a.m. Central Time, the process would begin to move the monument. He told me that a company from Georgia was the one moving it. As you know, we'll call for a national boycott of that company who did move it, because local Alabaman companies would not move it. He -- I just met with him a few moments ago. He said that it's been put in a -- quote, unquote -- backroom. The monument a lot of people don't realize is in two parts. They are going to take it apart, and then he said they will store it here. He invited me to go back and look at the monument to insure that it has not been damaged. I don't know when that will be. But I am just encouraging everyone, we're not discouraged. We're people of faith. We're disappointed, but we're not discouraged, and we believe we are going to put pressure on the president. He has been disturbingly silent on the issue. We are going to challenge, at least in this state, anyone who runs from dog catcher in the state of Alabama is going to be asked about the Ten Commandments.

CABELL: Attorney General Bill Pryor, renowned conservative in the state, up for a judgeship, I heard just a little while ago, one of your people saying that you are now pulling your support from him, is that correct?

MAHONEY: The National Clergy Council, which represents over 5,300 clergy across the nation, evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox, will announce at a news conference today they'll do that. Mr. Pryor showed an utter lack of leadership. Mr. Pryor said I did an interview with him, and he said if the courts told him to do something immoral, he would resign. It's immoral to remove this. He should resign. All eight associate justices said in their court brief yesterday that they believe it's constitutional for the monument to stay in the building. No, this battle has just been engaged. We are inviting people to come down. And for the next few days into next week, we're not going anywhere.

CABELL: But you may lose momentum here. I mean, I'm looking around here. Some of these people don't look all that enthusiastic, frankly, right now. I know it's hot, but still, the monument has been moved at this point.

MAHONEY: I think let's see what we have in the rally tonight, Let's see into Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and let's go from there. But look, we now take the momentum from this. The public debate has begun in earnest. There's the issue of the federal judges, which is -- has been sort of under the radar screen. We are going to make it a major campaign issue in 2004, religious people, Christian groups. The fact of, does the Ten Commandments belong in public? Remember, the Third Circuit came to a completely different opinion than the 11th Circuit.

CABELL: Reverend Mahoney, we've got to go. Thank you very much.

MAHONEY: So as you can see. Thanks for having me. The monument has moved, but the people, they're still here, at least for now.

CABELL: All right. Good deal. Thanks, Brian. We'll check back with you later on.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Brian. We'll check back with you later on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 27, 2003 - 11:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Workers wheeled the monument of the Ten Commandments out of public view in the last hour. Protesters who wanted the religious display to stay in its place, despite a federal court ruling, were helpless to do more than just sit there, watch and pray.
And our Brian Cabell is standing there amongst the crowd. He is in Montgomery this morning, and he joins us now live at the scene this hour -- Brian.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

We heard rumors for the last two or three days that the monument would definitely be moving. It didn't move the last couple of days, but just about an hour or so, it was finally moved. It didn't seem to take all that long. It's been moved to another room out of public view as we understand it within the justice building.

And with me right now, one of the leaders of the protest group outside, Reverend Pat Mahoney. Reverend, you've been here for a week. The idea was to keep it from being moved. It was moved today. Is this something of a defeat?

REV. PAT MAHONEY, CHRISTIAN DEFENSE COALITION: It's certainly not a defeat for us. It may be a defeat for -- on some level for free speech and religious expression, but we believe what's happened here will ripple out across the nation. Everyone's been looking at it, the issue of unbridled federal judicial power. In Washington, we're seeing the struggle over filibustering for federal judges.

The fact, does the Ten Commandments belong in the public square? We don't view this as a defeat at all. In fact, we are still calling people to come to Montgomery, to take a look in that rotunda where the Ten Commandments once stood, and say if we do not act now and make a difference, this is the future of religious expression in the public square.

CABELL: Do we know yet who moved it?

MAHONEY: No, we're trying to find out. As you know, I met with Mr. George, the building manager, at 7:45. He told me that shortly the process, 7:45 a.m. Central Time, the process would begin to move the monument. He told me that a company from Georgia was the one moving it. As you know, we'll call for a national boycott of that company who did move it, because local Alabaman companies would not move it. He -- I just met with him a few moments ago. He said that it's been put in a -- quote, unquote -- backroom. The monument a lot of people don't realize is in two parts. They are going to take it apart, and then he said they will store it here. He invited me to go back and look at the monument to insure that it has not been damaged. I don't know when that will be. But I am just encouraging everyone, we're not discouraged. We're people of faith. We're disappointed, but we're not discouraged, and we believe we are going to put pressure on the president. He has been disturbingly silent on the issue. We are going to challenge, at least in this state, anyone who runs from dog catcher in the state of Alabama is going to be asked about the Ten Commandments.

CABELL: Attorney General Bill Pryor, renowned conservative in the state, up for a judgeship, I heard just a little while ago, one of your people saying that you are now pulling your support from him, is that correct?

MAHONEY: The National Clergy Council, which represents over 5,300 clergy across the nation, evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox, will announce at a news conference today they'll do that. Mr. Pryor showed an utter lack of leadership. Mr. Pryor said I did an interview with him, and he said if the courts told him to do something immoral, he would resign. It's immoral to remove this. He should resign. All eight associate justices said in their court brief yesterday that they believe it's constitutional for the monument to stay in the building. No, this battle has just been engaged. We are inviting people to come down. And for the next few days into next week, we're not going anywhere.

CABELL: But you may lose momentum here. I mean, I'm looking around here. Some of these people don't look all that enthusiastic, frankly, right now. I know it's hot, but still, the monument has been moved at this point.

MAHONEY: I think let's see what we have in the rally tonight, Let's see into Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and let's go from there. But look, we now take the momentum from this. The public debate has begun in earnest. There's the issue of the federal judges, which is -- has been sort of under the radar screen. We are going to make it a major campaign issue in 2004, religious people, Christian groups. The fact of, does the Ten Commandments belong in public? Remember, the Third Circuit came to a completely different opinion than the 11th Circuit.

CABELL: Reverend Mahoney, we've got to go. Thank you very much.

MAHONEY: So as you can see. Thanks for having me. The monument has moved, but the people, they're still here, at least for now.

CABELL: All right. Good deal. Thanks, Brian. We'll check back with you later on.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Brian. We'll check back with you later on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com