Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore told the Montgomery Advertiser on Monday that he believes the First Amendment applies to all religions.
Speaking at an event in Mississippi in January, the chief justice stated that the United States was founded on the Biblical scriptures. He claimed Americans had been "deceived" about the meaning of the word "religion" in the First Amendment. He suggested the word referred only to Christianity.
"Buddha didn't create us. Mohammed didn't create us. It's the God of the Holy Scriptures. They didn’t bring the Koran over on the pilgrim ship, the Mayflower. Let's get real. Let's go back and learn our history. Let's stop playing games."
The remarks earned him a rebuke from the American Civil Liberties Union. Susan Watson, executive director of Alabama’s ACLU chapter, said in a statement, “Chief Justice Roy Moore is sorely misguided in his belief that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution only applies to Christians. It applies to everyone, regardless of his or her religious belief or non-belief.”
Moore said Monday that the First Amendment protected all religions, not just Christianity.
"It applies to the rights God gave us to be free in our modes of thinking, and as far as religious liberty to all people, regardless of what they believe," Moore told the Montgomery Advertiser.
