c. 2004 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A controversial Ten Commandments monument will be moved out of Alabama’s judicial building Monday by a veterans group that plans to tour the country with it on a flatbed truck.

Roy Moore, the owner of the 5,280-pound block of inscribed granite, agreed to let the American Veterans Standing for God and Country carry it through several states over the next few months for what is being billed as a series of God Bless America rallies.

A federal judge in 2002 ruled the monument was an affront to separation of church and state and ordered it removed from display in the judicial building in Montgomery. Moore, then Alabama’s chief justice, refused and was removed from office.

The monument has been stored in a closet since August.

Moore and the president of the veterans group, Jim Cabaniss of Houston, signed the agreement this week to put the monument on tour.

“At a time when our sacred institution of marriage is being assaulted by those who would deny the law of God, Americans need to be reminded of our moral foundation,” Moore said Thursday through a spokeswoman.

The removal of the monument at 6 p.m. Monday will contrast with its installation, which was secret and in the middle of the night. Organizers are inviting the public to watch the same company use a crane to lift it from the front of the building into a truck, Cabaniss said.

“We’re going to take it out of the dark closet of the Alabama state Supreme Court building and bring it out and move it across America and expose it to as many American people as possible,” Cabaniss said.

The veterans group is part of the umbrella organization American Veterans in Domestic Defense, which has supported Moore’s Ten Commandments causes over the years.

The monument has become a national cause for Moore. He has been traveling the country warning people about a judicial system he says is hostile to expressions of Christian faith in the public sector. While the removal may signal an end to a controversy that has played out in high drama on the steps of court building in Montgomery, the agreement ensures Moore’s issue carries on.

The tentative touring schedule begins in Tennessee, followed by visits to several states, from Colorado in the west, through the Plains, the South and up the Atlantic Coast.

Wiley Drake, a Buena Park, Calif., pastor and member of the veterans group, announced the plans Thursday on his Internet-based talk show and prayer conference. He said the tour could wind up at a Christian rally on the National Mall in October. He said the ultimate goal is to drop the monument off at the U.S. Capitol. Moore’s supporters have said they want it to be displayed somewhere prominently on Capitol Hill, which would require an act of Congress.

The agreement between Cabaniss and Moore does not transfer ownership, and no money changed hands. Moore, a Vietnam veteran and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, is allowing the group to use it for an indefinite period.

“It might be six months, a year or even longer,” Cabaniss said about the tour.

The monument will be covered by canvas during its travels and uncovered at rallies. Cabaniss and Drake said the costs will be paid by private donations.

Each rally will feature a veteran, a civic leader and a spiritual leader.

Cabaniss said the group approached Moore with the idea and asked for his permission.

There may be times Moore’s schedule coincides with one of the rallies, but it was not definite.

“He’s a very humble man,” Drake said.

DEA END ORNDORFF