labama Chief Justice Roy Moore is involved in a promotional effort with a fundamentalist Christian ministry to distribute video tapes showing the stealth placement of a Ten Commandments monument in the state Judicial Building. The exclusive footage was made on the night of July 31 - August 1, 2001 as workers erected the 5,280-pound display without the knowledge of other court justices and much of the news media. Local televisions stations who learned of the possibly illegal Commandments monument placement were turned away.

   Two lawsuits have been filed challenging the Ten Commandments display as a violation of the First Amendment. But the religious group involved in the videotaping, Coral Ridge Ministries of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. is helping Justice Moore with his legal expenses. So far, the group has donated $130,000 for Moore's defense, and more money is being raised with the sale of videos.

   According to Associated Press writer Phillip Rawls and reports in Alabama media, a spokesman for Coral Ridge Ministries said "We have a long-standing relationship (with Justice Moore). We were informed and were happy to cover it for obvious reasons."

   Coral Ridge Ministries is a "mega-church" outreach headed by controversial televangelist D. James Kennedy, who has a long history of involvement in religious right political causes. In 1979, he sat on the board of directors of the new Moral Majority group organized by preacher Jerry Falwell and political operatives like Tim LaHaye (wife Beverly founded Concerned Women for America) and Paul Weyrich. Kennedy was also in on ground floor efforts involving former Rep. John Conlan of Arizona who worked to organize the nation's burgeoning evangelical movement behind the political candidacy of former President Ronald Reagan.

   As an evangelist, Kennedy is best known for his stern positions regarding sex education and equal rights for gays. His Coral Ridge Ministry television program has been a forum for those speaking out in opposition to AIDS testing. He also hosted anti-choice zealot Randall Terry of the Operation Rescue movement which terrorized clinics and women seeking abortion services.

   While he is considered a Presbyterian evangelical, Kennedy has endorsed books and other materialists published by the extremist Christian Reconstructionist movement which supports establishment of an Old Testament style theocracy and the implementation of "bible-based" law. Jay Grimstead, a Reconstruction activist, once declared, "There are a lot of us floating around in Christian leadership -- James Kennedy is one of them -- who don't go all the way with the theonomy thing, but who want to rebuild America based on the Bible..."

   Kennedy has also flirted with other religious authoritarians, including Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church movement. Moon has referred to himself as the Messiah, and denounced American women as "prostitutes" for their immodesty. The bizarre cult leader bankrolled a group in the mid-1980s known as the Coalition for Religious Freedom which included a slew of American religious right evangelists including discredited preacher Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Falwell, Rex Humbard, and, of course, D. James Kennedy.

   Kennedy's cozy association with Moore began in 1995 when the future Chief Justice was a Judge in Etowah County, Alabama. Moore generated national attention when he placed a hard-carved wooden plaque symbolizing the Ten Commandments above his courtroom dais, and began opening the day's judicial proceedings with Baptist invocations. Lawsuits were quickly filed, and Moore remained recalcitrant, refusing to take down the Decalogue symbols or "secularize" them by including other non-religious documents like the U.S. Constitution. A suit filed by freethinkers in Alabama was dismissed on a technicality, and Moore became a heroic figure for religious and political groups across the nation which supported issues like prayer in public schools and display of the Commandments on government property. Along the way to the state capital, Rev. Kennedy was a staunch supporter of the combative Roy Moore.

   Running for the highest elected judicial post in Alabama, Moore pledged that if chosen by voters, he would continue his efforts to meld religious symbols and government authority, and place some kind of Ten Commandments monument in the state's Judicial Building. With hardly any notice to media, and ignoring his fellow judges, Moore began planning the washing machine-sized monument after his successful campaign. On the night of July 31, the display was hastily and stealthily erected.

   Rawls noted, "Moore allowed Coral Ridge Ministries to make a video of that display when video crews from Alabama TV stations were turned away."

   The presence of the enormous monument has become a divisive issue. Black lawmakers responded by trying to erect a memorial to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, but were turned away by building security police. Larry Darby, Alabama State Director for American Atheists, then announced plans to erect a display featuring the atomic whirl, a symbol of what he described as science and reason. Moore promptly rejected both proposals.

   There is evidence that Moore and his supporters anticipated forthcoming lawsuits. So far, two have been filed. "At the unveiling of the monument on August 1," noted the AP story, Moore's longtime attorney, Stephen Melchior, predicted, 'We anticipate there will be a battle.' "

   There may be a conflict of interest in Moore strategy of giving exclusive film rights to Kennedy's ministry which are then used to fund legal defense over the Commandments display. James Sumner of the Alabama State Ethics Commission said that laws prohibit any government official from using state facilities under his control for private benefit or business benefit of another individual. Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministry began promoting the Moore video on its October 14 television program, which shows the enormous granite monument being made in Birmingham, and then transported by truck to the state Judicial Building in Montgomery. Moore, wearing a white T-shirt, is depicted helping to wheel the base into position

   "Video cassette copies ... are offered by Kennedy's organization for a suggested donation of $19," noted Rawls in his story.

   Kennedy's web sites (www.coralridge.org and www.reclaimamerica.org) both give prominent play to Justice Moore and the battle over the Ten Commandments. One statement declares that the Ten Commandments are "under attack across the nation," and links alleged problems in public schools, divorce rates, shootings and abortion to the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision in STONE v. GRAHAM (1980) which struck down a Kentucky statute mandating display of the Decalogue in classrooms.

   Moore is schedule to be the lead speaker at Kennedy's "Reclaiming America for Christ Conference" slated for next April, 2002 in Newport Beach. Other participates include Iran Contragate figure Oliver North; Janet Folger of the Center for Reclaiming America and John Sorensen of Evangelism Explosion. Also appearing will be Michael Johnston who, according to the Kennedy web site, "leads an outreach to those struggling with homosexuality, (who) will share the truth about the dangers and agenda of the lifestyle he left behind."

   Kennedy's group is also launching an on-line petition drive to mobilize support for Moore.

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