Alabama's right wing finds a new cause to defy Washington: Judge Moore's Ten Commandments

A generation ago it was George Wallace, the incendiary governor of Alabama, who defied the federal courts and vowed before his fanatical supporters that schools in his state would remain segregated forever.

Now the state's reactionary right has produced a new folk hero in the shape of Roy Moore, the Chief Justice who installed a stone monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama judicial building in Montgomery two years ago, and is now defying an order from a federal judge to remove it as a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

For a week, Mr Moore's supporters have stood outside the building, denouncing their opponents as sodomites and holding up signs reading: "The wicked shall be turned into hell." They have sworn to "kneel side-by-side in Christian love" to block attempts to remove the 5,000lb block of granite inscribed with the Commandments, and threatened to boycott any removals company that agrees to take on the job.

They have been undeterred by sweltering summer temperatures, and they are equally undeterred by the due process of the legal system, which has consistently ruled against them.

Last Friday, Mr Moore's fellow judges on the Alabama state supreme court voted to suspend him from his job for disobeying a federal judge's order to take his monument out of public view.

But that is far from the end of the story. Two of Mr Moore's most ardent supporters, a Christian radio host and a pastor, have filed a new suit in federal court, and will be seeking a temporary injunction today to prevent the removal of the granite slab rapidly becoming known as "Roy's rock". The Christian Coalition of Alabama, meanwhile, has denounced the suspension as a "coup".

Mr Moore himself remains in lockstep with his fans.

"They have allowed the acknowledgment of God to be taken from us because three lawyers walked in this building and are offended at looking at God's word," he said in a speech from the steps of the courthouse on Monday night. "That's what this case is about. It's not about a monument. It's not about religion. It's about acknowledgment of Almighty God."

Ever since the protest began, Mr Moore has been a fixture on the TV news show circuit, meandering away from the Ten Commandments issue to rail against abortion and the federal courts who allow such "evils" to go unchecked.

This is a stand-off that plays into several American traditions at once: the South's long-standing suspicion of the federal government, going all the way back to the Civil War; the intractability of a Christian right which, paradoxically, has become emboldened by the current leader of the federal government, George W Bush; Alabama's own particular tradition of defiance, on both sides of the political fence (Rosa Parks as well as George Wallace); and, not to be underestimated, the seductive power of the mass media.

Mr Moore's actions came into question the moment he decided to bring in the Ten Commandments monument. It was delivered in the dead of night, without forewarning to his eight fellow justices. He later argued that he kept them in the dark so they would not be held liable for his actions - an argument they dismiss as spurious.

The gesture showed every indication of being a deliberate provocation to test the limits of US constitutional law.

Unfortunately for Mr Moore, the constitution is extremely clear about the illegality of a government body promoting one particular religious viewpoint. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which usually tracks hate crimes but also follows free speech issues, has dismissed Mr Moore's arguments as "nutty".

Mr Moore has long since given up any interest in winning his legal battles, however. For him, it is enough to believe that he is right and upholding the cause of a just God against a sea of sinners and non-believers. With his career as a judge now seriously in question, he seems more interested in rousing public support - suggesting a run at political office if he is thrown off the state supreme court.

Public opinion, however, is divided at best and may well be tilted against him. Alabama newspaper editorials have almost universally condemned him, and the hardy band of pro-Moore demonstrators outside the courthouse have been confronted directly by counter-protests standing up for the separation of church and state.

It also remains to be seen how long Mr Moore can keep up his disobedience campaign. In the 1960s, Governor Wallace made a symbolic stand in a University of Alabama doorway to try to stop two black students from entering, but backed down when the National Guard turned up. In Montgomery, the feds may well be similarly poised to break up the party.