'Commandments' judge faces trial

By Jane Little
BBC religious affairs correspondent

The chief justice of the US State of Alabama is going on trial on Wednesday for defying an order to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from his courthouse.

Roy Moore says he was upholding the constitution of Alabama by acknowledging God as the foundation of the law.

The chief justice has gained a large following from conservative Christians who believe this is a war over America's values.

But the prosecution says his defiance was a "sensational flouting" of a federal injunction.

'Ethics violations'

Despite the controversy, Mr Moore is going on trial before a judicial panel believing he has right on his side.

Moore [right] believes he has right on his side

He also has many supporters from all over the US behind him, convinced he and they are victims of a system that has taken the separation of church and state too far.

The battle over a two-ton block of granite inscribed with the Ten Commandments began soon after the chief justice put the block in the state's judicial building in July 2001.

Civil liberties groups protested and a US district judge ruled that the monument was an unconstitutional promotion of religion.

The order to remove it was upheld in August, but Mr Moore refused to comply.

He was suspended and charged with ethics violations.

Perennial debate

Mr Moore is no stranger to controversy.

The monument is now languishing in storage

In a curious twist, the man prosecuting him is a former ally who defended him when he was sued for putting a plaque of the Ten Commandments in his circuit courtroom some years ago.

A conservative Baptist, he made the installation of this monument his campaign pledge - one that went down well in this Bible Belt state.

The monument itself now languishes in a storage room, but the perennial debate it has sparked about the place of God in America's public arena goes on.