Last week, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended without pay for the remainder of his term over a refusal to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to legalize same sex marriage nationwide. Now, one prominent leader with the state’s Baptist lobbying arm has said the news is indicative of a battle over religious freedom.
Joe Godfrey, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), told Baptist Press that the move appeared to be “forces at work that seek to silence freedom of speech and religious liberties.”
It’s a sentiment that seems to share agreement among the faith community in Alabama and the rest of the nation. Franklin Graham, for instance, had called for prayers and encouragement for Moore prior to the decision.
“I have met Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, and I appreciate that he is a man who will stand up for what is right,” Graham said in a Facebook post.”
Most state leaders- namely Governor Robert Bentley and Attorney General Luther Strange- have kept silent on the ordeal. However, state auditor Jim Zeigler added his voice to the mix, telling AL.com he believed that the Alabama Court of the Judiciary’s decision was “illegal and unconstitutional decision.”
“It’s obvious they did not have nine votes to remove the chief justice. So they concocted a way to effectively remove him,” Zeigler said.
A true removal of office would have required unanimous agreement among the nine members of the Court of the Judiciary. The vote reportedly fell 6-3, issuing a penalty that would prevent Moore from serving on the court, though he technically remains as the Chief Justice.
Mat Staver, who represented Moore, called the ruling a “miscarriage of justice” and said that the case is “far from over.”
“The rule of law should trump political agendas. Sadly, today that is not the case. What this decision tells us today is that Montgomery has a long way to go to weed out abuse of political power and restore the rule of law,” Staver said.
It’s not the first time Moore has faced penalty for taking a religious stand. In 2003, he was ousted from the same position after defying a federal court order to remove the ten commandments from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building.
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