How judge's stand resonates in Bible Belt

But most of Moore's ardent supporters in DeRidder say they are motivated by the fear that, bit by bit, their values are being marginalized by cultural elites and, in particular, the federal government. "If we don't stop and take a stand now, we'll be a fallen generation," says Tammy Courvelle, owner of Treasure City Mall, a local flea market.

National leaders of the Christian right point to the recent Supreme Court decision reversing Texas's ban on sodomy as a the clearest sign that the tide of legislative and judicial rulings is moving gainst them.

"This long hot summer is coming to a boil, and Judge Moore may be the catalyst," says the Rev. Jerry Falwell, president of Liberty University. He joined hundreds of other supporters of Moore in Montgomery recently.

Last week, the Supreme Court refused to hear Moore's appeal of a district court judge's order that the two-ton granite monument be removed. Moore had refused to do so, and his eight colleagues on Alabama's Supreme Court overruled him, suggesting the monument be moved to Moore's private quarters. The judge says he will not interfere with its removal.

But hundreds of sympathetic Christians have rallied to defend it, and further appeals are likely.

Experts trace support for display of the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments to growing numbers of conservative Catholics and Protestant evangelicals and fundamentalists who are now said to represent more than a third of the US population. "There's a religious revival going on," explains Edward Larson of the University of Georgia. "These people dominated American culture 120 years ago. They lost all of that, but they've regained control in politics since Jimmy Carter was president."

But there are also more moderate segments of the Christian right. In DeRidder, they often distinguish themselves as "nonfundamentalists. Many of them applaud Moore's advocacy of Christian values, but they are troubled by the appearance of state-supported religion.

"I'm a Christian. Of course I want them to stay," says Marla Kelly, who was raised in DeRidder and now attends medical school at Louisiana State University. "But I'm scared to think what would happen if church and state were allowed to mix like this."

People here point out that, while there may be a lot of churches, that doesn't mean they are all full. But for those who do attend, they have heard a lot of support for Moore from the pulpit the past few weeks. And there are churches aplenty. Motorists passing through this town see them pop out from behind trees and buildings, one after another, like monuments in Washington.

The complexity of opinion here may be no surprise, given that the same people who value religious principles generally respect legal ones as well. "Whatever sympathy Moore had because people respect the Ten Commandments, he lost when he would not obey the rule of the law at the same time," says Kathleen Flack, a religious expert at Vanderbilt University.

• Material from Reuters was used in this report.

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