Ten Commandments battle judge to speak at convention

Kirsten Searer

Friday, April 23, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.

The Independent American Party of Nevada, the state's third-largest political party, will hold its convention this weekend in Las Vegas to nominate candidates for the fall elections.

It will be capped by a speech from former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from the bench in November after refusing to follow a federal judge's order to remove a dishwasher-sized Ten Commandments monument Moore had placed in the rotunda of the state's judicial building in Montgomery.

The federal judge ruled that the 5,000-pound-plus granite tribute to the Ten Commandments violated the constitutional principle that requires the separation of organized religion and government, popularly known as the separation of church and state.

Moore is now traveling the country to speak about why he thinks God and government cannot be separated.

He has drawn a national following and was rumored to be considering a run for the presidency, though he said this week he has no intentions to run for the office.

He has argued that government derives its power -- and its human decency -- from the rights that only God has granted. Separation of church and state doesn't forbid the acknowledgement of God, he said in an interview this week.

"It is God who gives us our rights," he said. "Government is there to secure them, and if it doesn't, it should be abolished."

Moore is still appealing his removal from the Supreme Court and said he could appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Joel Hansen, state chairman of the Independent American Party, said his party supports Moore's message.

"We don't think that the federal courts should have ruled against (Moore)," Hansen said. "We think the Ten Commandments are the foundation of federal law."

The Moore speech is open to the public. It begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Tuscany, 255 E. Flamingo Road. Tickets are $20, or $10 for students with identification. Tickets will be sold at the door and area available online at www.youngiap.org.

The convention also will feature a visit by Constitution Party presidential hopeful Michael Peroutka, who will speak at 7 tonight at Embassy Suites, 3600 Paradise Road.

The party will nominate candidates for the 2004 election at the convention.