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CNN Live Today
Ten Commandments Monument May be Removed This Week
Aired August 25, 2003 - 10:02 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to politics of power and conviction. Federal authorities could descend on an Alabama courthouse today to remove a religious monument. And also today, a citizens group plans to file a federal lawsuit protesting the removal of the granite marker, which lists the Ten Commandments.
CNN's Jason Bellini is in Montgomery now with the very latest on this.
Hello -- Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, it would be inaccurate to describe what's going on here as a standoff. Most of the people we've spoken to have said that it's pretty much an inevitability that this monument of the Ten Commandments is going to be removed unless there's some kind of miracle. A lot of people who are still here, they've been here all weekend long.
Happening right next to me right now is there is a pastor who is ministering to some of the people who have gathered here, people from all over the country.
But on Sunday, we spoke to people who are from here in Montgomery, Alabama, to find out from them, at its core, what all of this is really about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JAY WOLF, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH: Well, four blocks away, the Ten Commandments monument has created a national discussion, which can be very healthy.
BELLINI (voice-over): When, on Sunday morning, we approached Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, there was little question where he stood on the issue of the Ten Commandments monument.
WOLF: God helped create, sustain and bless this nation. He helped formed us. So, this is when somebody takes off their wedding ring, it generally says something about their relationship to their mate. I think removing that monument is a symbol of America turning its back on God.
BELLINI: And the parishioners we talked to at First Baptist agreed with their pastor that removing a symbol of God from the state Supreme Court building was itself symbolic -- symbolic of something deeply troubling.
SAPNA SWAMY, FIRST BAPTIST PARISHIONER: It's kind of like a domino effect, you know? It's like if you remove one thing, everything's gone from the schools and all the laws are changing.
BELLINI: This is Alabama, where resisting federal commands is part of the state's heritage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they try to take it out of a fire door, we've instructed our people to kneel down like this, fold their hands like this.
BELLINI: Here, the state Supreme Court chief justice has achieved folk hero status -- first for installing the Ten Commandments monument in the courthouse in the middle of the night, and then for refusing to obey federal court orders that he remove it.
But not among everyone.
(on camera): So, you're not taking Moore's side?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you crazy? Absolutely not.
BELLINI: Valerie (ph), who we met outside her Episcopalian church, shared with us her equally passionate opposing viewpoint.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's going to obey the law if a chief justice says I refuse to obey the law?
BELLINI: And so, this has become a debate not just about the Ten Commandments, church and state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's not like they're taking the Ten Commandments away, like -- because they're everywhere. They're in the church plastered on the walls and stuff.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELLINI: Now, the suspended chief justice, Roy Moore, has indicated that he will not try to block the crews that come to move this monument. And when they come to move this monument, likely sometime this week within the next several days, the people here, of course, say that they are going to use civil disobedience to try to block that monument from being moved.
Their last hope may be coming today at 1:00, when a suit is being filed in federal district court in Mobile, Alabama. That suit trying to block the movement of this statue, claiming that it violates the First Amendment rights of these people here -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And, Jason, I'm just wondering, it's hard to get a sense. About how many people do you think are there right now behind you?
BELLINI: You know, it's tough to say. Probably, you know, about 50 -- between 50 to 100. You hear them singing behind me right now. Again, they've been here all weekend long, staying all night. It's looking a bit like a campground here in front of the Supreme Court building -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, CNN's Jason Bellini this morning for us in Montgomery, Alabama. Thanks so much, Jason.
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 25, 2003 - 10:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to politics of power and conviction. Federal authorities could descend on an Alabama courthouse today to remove a religious monument. And also today, a citizens group plans to file a federal lawsuit protesting the removal of the granite marker, which lists the Ten Commandments.
CNN's Jason Bellini is in Montgomery now with the very latest on this.
Hello -- Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, it would be inaccurate to describe what's going on here as a standoff. Most of the people we've spoken to have said that it's pretty much an inevitability that this monument of the Ten Commandments is going to be removed unless there's some kind of miracle. A lot of people who are still here, they've been here all weekend long.
Happening right next to me right now is there is a pastor who is ministering to some of the people who have gathered here, people from all over the country.
But on Sunday, we spoke to people who are from here in Montgomery, Alabama, to find out from them, at its core, what all of this is really about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JAY WOLF, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH: Well, four blocks away, the Ten Commandments monument has created a national discussion, which can be very healthy.
BELLINI (voice-over): When, on Sunday morning, we approached Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, there was little question where he stood on the issue of the Ten Commandments monument.
WOLF: God helped create, sustain and bless this nation. He helped formed us. So, this is when somebody takes off their wedding ring, it generally says something about their relationship to their mate. I think removing that monument is a symbol of America turning its back on God.
BELLINI: And the parishioners we talked to at First Baptist agreed with their pastor that removing a symbol of God from the state Supreme Court building was itself symbolic -- symbolic of something deeply troubling.
SAPNA SWAMY, FIRST BAPTIST PARISHIONER: It's kind of like a domino effect, you know? It's like if you remove one thing, everything's gone from the schools and all the laws are changing.
BELLINI: This is Alabama, where resisting federal commands is part of the state's heritage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they try to take it out of a fire door, we've instructed our people to kneel down like this, fold their hands like this.
BELLINI: Here, the state Supreme Court chief justice has achieved folk hero status -- first for installing the Ten Commandments monument in the courthouse in the middle of the night, and then for refusing to obey federal court orders that he remove it.
But not among everyone.
(on camera): So, you're not taking Moore's side?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you crazy? Absolutely not.
BELLINI: Valerie (ph), who we met outside her Episcopalian church, shared with us her equally passionate opposing viewpoint.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's going to obey the law if a chief justice says I refuse to obey the law?
BELLINI: And so, this has become a debate not just about the Ten Commandments, church and state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's not like they're taking the Ten Commandments away, like -- because they're everywhere. They're in the church plastered on the walls and stuff.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELLINI: Now, the suspended chief justice, Roy Moore, has indicated that he will not try to block the crews that come to move this monument. And when they come to move this monument, likely sometime this week within the next several days, the people here, of course, say that they are going to use civil disobedience to try to block that monument from being moved.
Their last hope may be coming today at 1:00, when a suit is being filed in federal district court in Mobile, Alabama. That suit trying to block the movement of this statue, claiming that it violates the First Amendment rights of these people here -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And, Jason, I'm just wondering, it's hard to get a sense. About how many people do you think are there right now behind you?
BELLINI: You know, it's tough to say. Probably, you know, about 50 -- between 50 to 100. You hear them singing behind me right now. Again, they've been here all weekend long, staying all night. It's looking a bit like a campground here in front of the Supreme Court building -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, CNN's Jason Bellini this morning for us in Montgomery, Alabama. Thanks so much, Jason.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
