The Alabama judge who has become a hero to the nation's religious conservatives for his refusal to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom told a Catonsville prayer breakfast on June 27 there should be less separation between God and government. 'It is time for Christians to stand up,' the Etowah County, Ala., circuit court judge told a crowd of more than 200 at the Bishop Cummins Memorial Reformed Episcopal Church on Frederick Road.

Moore said the courts have misinterpreted the concept of religious freedom.

He began attracting national attention within a year of his 1992 appointment as a judge after he decided to spruce up the bare walls of his courtroom with a wooden plaque inscribed with the Ten Commandments that he carved by hand.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit to have the carving removed, as well as to end the practice of having clergy lead prospective jurors in a voluntary courtroom prayer.

After the ACLU won in a lower state court, the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed the challenge on a technicality--which means the Ten Commandments remain on Moore's courtoom wall and the voluntary prayer continues.

Over the past year, Moore has traveled the country speaking to religious groups, urging them to work harder to bring God back into public life.

He chose to speak in Catonsville largely because of the work of the Rev. Paul Schenck, rector and senior pastor of the Reformed Episcopal church. Schenck and his brother are nationally known anti-abortion activists who founded the Ten Commandments project, which aims to place the Ten Commandments in the offices of public officials.

--The Baltimore Sun