Sandy Rios, President of Concerned Women for America
August 30, 2003
On the steps of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery

Thank you very much. Thank you. You guys are the best, I'm telling you.

You know, I thought after I was listening tonight, listening to the singing, I should just forget a political speech. I really feel like preaching.

One of the things about CWA that you need to know is that we are most definitely followers of Christ first, and what we do is prayer and then action. I think that's the secret of our strength, because we know we're too foolish to do it on our own. And so, prayer and then action. God has so radically transformed my own life. I love Him so dearly, I wish I could just stand here and give you my testimony. But I'm not going to, I'm going to give you this stuff that I wrote.

Let me just say, we've been talking every day on the air about this rally--and my heart has been down here, there's no question about it. And I'm just curious to know, we got a call from one listener from, I think, New Jersey or Connecticut, and he left a message and he said, "Thank you, thank you, Sandy. Thank you so much. I got in my car and I drove down to Montgomery, and I was one of the 22 that got arrested. Thank you!" I thought, I've never been thanked for something like that before.

But I would be very curious to know how many of you are not from Alabama. Will you stand if you're not from Alabama? Let's see who you are. Wow, look at that. Man oh man. Well, thank you so much for making that effort to drive here and support the people of Alabama.

Let me just say that we have our state leader from Georgia, Tanya Ditty; Missouri, Bev Ehlen; and Karen Householder from Kansas. Those are our chapters that are here tonight. Where you go guys? Thank you, thank you for coming.

I'm so humbled to be working with Pat Mahoney and Rob and John, who have spent and just given their life and their sweat and their tears this past couple of weeks. This is what men of God do. This is what the real thing looks like, and I'm please to be and honored with you guys.

And then, for you people of Alabama I just have something funny. My mother died three years ago in September. My mother was such a strong believer. I love her and miss her so much. I wish she could be here, though, for this reason. I grew up in a southern Baptist church in southern Illinois. Now, believe it or not, it's pretty darn southern. But my mother used to say, you know, all of our pastors are from Texas, and she'd say, "Honey, nobody can preach like those men from the south. Those southern preachers are the best." I can't believe you've got two Yankee preachers! What's the matter with you people? I'm just kidding. Isn't that just like God, you know? I mean it's just great. I love it.

You know what? Thank you. You people from Alabama have such reason to be proud, in a humble sort of way. You have a reason to be proud. You know, many people have criticized you this past couple of weeks. They say, "Oh, yeah. Those people of Alabama. Remember, they're the ones that resisted during the Civil Rights Movement, did all those bad things, and they're always going counter to the federal government." Well, you know, the thing of it is, there used to be a time when that kind of courage was respected. Even if you disagreed with the principle, people respected courage. In fact, our Founding Fathers--the thirteen original colonies didn't want a federalized government. They wanted to be independent. That was the norm, not what was unusual. And you know, along with that, thank you for that. Thank you for that courage and independence.

And I know where it comes from. It's because Alabama is a state that has been saturated with the gospel. It's a state where people honor Christ in their lives sincerely, and they understand--and that's where the courage comes from, that's where the boldness comes from. You have set an example for all of us. Thank you.

You know, it's hard to believe it was just a week ago that Justice Moore defied the federal court order, and everybody was just shocked that he'd do something like that. He defied an order because he just simply put a monument here in this building. You all from Alabama knew he was going to do something like that. That's why you elected him. [applause]

And on that monument was the ten basic things that God laid out to teach human beings how to live among each other, how to behave. Very basic. They became, thousands of years later, the basis of American law--and of all civilized law, for that matter. They are embraced by Christians, by Jews, and by Muslims. There is no controversy here! People believe these ten things should be honored. They have been displayed in classrooms, in courtrooms, and public buildings for over 200 years. In fact, they have been etched in stone in the Supreme Court Building for about 150 years in Washington.

Now listen. We have had tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, probably millions of people pass through that courtroom and see those Ten Commandments, and I have never heard of a single story of one person who was forced to bow their knee and worship God, become a Jew, become Christian. It has never happened.

However, miraculously, the monument the chief justice placed in this rotunda had special power. You know, no other stone has been able to do that since the Ark of the Covenant. It's no wonder that they had to move it into a room and cover it up, because it has so much power. I think Indiana Jones would be very proud, you know. The Alabama justice building has become the Temple of Doom.

Well, you know what? If this were not actually their claims--you know, Justice Thompson said that that monument has made people fall in line for religion, it has established a religion. That's what he said. If this were not actually his claim, and the claim of others, it would be laughable. The claim is nonsense, the order was nonsense, and worse than that, the court order was contrary to the very law that Justice Thompson is sworn to uphold, and that is the Constitution of the United States.

That document provides, in the Tenth Amendment--it's very simple, it's very short. You can read it. It says that the federal government does not have the power to make the states do something not specifically specified in the Constitution. I don't see anywhere in the Constitution where it says that we cannot display the Ten Commandments in courtrooms!

Is it lawlessness to obey a lawless order? Is it lawlessness to want to remind the people of the foundation of their law? Or is it lawlessness to remove that timeless foundation, basing your decision on the temporal whims of an ever-changing society?

You know, man's spirit longs for freedom. Our Founding Fathers knew that. North Koreans right now crossing the Tumen River know that. Nobody had to tell them about the Declaration, but man's spirit longs for freedom. In fact, our Founding Fathers valued it so highly that they enumerated those freedoms carefully, painstakingly. They wrote them into the law, and they set up systems to ensure their guarantee. But they did not, at any time, regard or confuse freedom with license or lawlessness.

Our Founding Fathers--including James Madison, who penned the Constitution, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and even the deist curmudgeon Ben Franklin--said that the twin pillars of democracy were religion and morality. Religion and morality. It was not an isolated phrase. They said it over, and over, and over again, and they told us explicitly that democracy and freedom depended on self-control, and that when people had self-control and understood that there was a higher authority that they had to answer to, they could handle the freedom. But without that self-control of religion and morality, freedom would become chaos, and more and more laws would be required. And that's why, ladies and gentlemen, you have to go through metal detectors at the airport and take off your shoes, and metal detectors in schools. That's why, and that's why the Patriot Act is so controversial, because we are losing our freedoms because we have lost religion and morality.

And so, I ask: is it lawlessness to refuse to obey a lawless order--one that ignores our foundings, our history, and our Constitution? I say, "No!"

The lawlessness is taking place in America's courtrooms, where the tyrannical judges that the Founding Fathers feared are making laws that they have no authority to make, answering to no one because our elected leaders don't have the courage to hold them accountable, which is their Constitutional duty.

Some critics have said that Justice Moore's defiance was wrong, that we should let this thing play out in the courts. What courts? The one that said "under God" is unlawful in the Pledge of Allegiance? The 11th Circuit, under Judge Thompson, who just declared laughably that this monument established a religion? The one in Washington that just found a right to sodomy in the Constitution--citing not American law, but European courts? Those courts? Decide there? I say, "Enough!" And you have said "enough," or you would not be here.

You know, America's courts are filled with criminals, and now with terrorists--and our judges are pursuing and investigating a judge because he has the nerve to display something that tell us "thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery"? He is the criminal? I have said "enough," and you have said "enough," or you wouldn't be here.

Two days ago, in my hometown of Chicago, a man went into a warehouse. He'd been fired, and he killed, systematically, throughout the factory, six of his co-workers. Maybe he did not know those words, "Thou shalt not kill."

Just a few years ago, we were shaken, we were stunned, when all of those murders took place in Columbine, in Pearl, Mississpi, and in other schools where kids murdered kids! Did we never stop to think that these kids don't have parents at home? Their parents are working. They're not teaching them. The only instruction they have is from television and movies and rap and rock. That's their only instruction. Have we ever stopped to understand that in public school, there is no mention of God? No mention! Have they ever even heard "thou shalt not kill"? Have they ever even heard it? How could they have known that life was sacred if they've never heard "thou shalt not kill"?

Did any of us ever think we'd come to the place where Gallup would take a poll to find out how many of us lie, and about what things we're lying about, and how we would have a national debate on whether lying is right or wrong, and maybe there's some cases where it's good, and presidents lie under oath? "It's OK to do that. You see, it's even virtuous if you're covering up for sexual misconduct because you're protecting other people." Did you ever think that we would debate lying? But think about it. People have not read the words, "Thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not lie." They don't know it's wrong to lie.

You know, when I was a kid in school, I remember in my class--maybe about third or fourth grade--somebody stole something. I remember what a huge thing that was. I remember how they talked to us and told us how wrong it was, how they had us go through the classroom that was empty, one by one, and say to whoever had taken the thing that they could put it back.

Several years later, I was teaching in public school, and I was shocked--and this is a long time ago--I was shocked that I could not leave a pencil on a chair, or a book, because it would be stolen. I'm shocked, because I live in a luxury apartment building by the Pentagon. I live there with generals, the Thai princess lived there. It's an upscale building, it's beautiful--and I cannot leave anything in the gym because it will be stolen. Do you suppose it's possible that if people knew that "thou shalt not steal" they might know they shouldn't do that? Instead, they think they have an advantage, they've been smart, they've used their cunning to take something that they wanted. "Thou shalt not steal."

You know, the Episcopal Church--we all know the Episcopal Church--just confirmed the Reverend Gene Robinson as a bishop in the church. Now, yes, the Reverend Robinson is openly homosexual. Yes, he is. That's bad enough, but Gene Robinson left his wife and two children for another man. The adulterer, turned bishop. "Thou shalt not commit adultery"--even the church has forgotten God's law. And when the clergy lapses into moral anarchy what shall the people do? What shall they do?

You know, 77% of the American people--I am stunned; the Gallup/USA poll--77%, not just of Alabamians, of the American people agree that the Ten Commandments should be displayed in the public square. That's amazing, because even though many of those people polled are in moral rebellion themselves, they understand the need to be reminded of the standard. 77% want those Commandments to stay. I thank God for that. Thank God--and maybe, maybe, there's still hope.

But what of the Christian response to this dilemma? There's controversy over this--and by that, I mean serious followers of Jesus Christ, who believe and already obey these commands, and have made Jesus Lord of their lives and follow His teachings, as well. What of our response to this dilemma? You know, some have been critical of Justice Moore, and others like us who have said "no more to judicial tyranny." They say that we must obey the laws and work within the system, they point to Paul's teachings about obeying authorities, and they talk about the fact that he never preached rebellion against Rome, and neither did Jesus, and so, therefore, we should obey the law and not rebel.

I think that's a worthy thing to be reminded of--and certainly, when you read Romans, it is very moving and it's still true--but there is one key difference. We do not live in a monarchy or a dictatorship, where a king or a Caesar is the law. We live in a democratic republic, a government established by the people, for the people. We are the people! We are the government!

We have a duel citizenship--one in God's kingdom, and the other our earthly home. As Christian citizens, we have a right, and more importantly, we have a duty to be good citizens. We must be involved. We must take action when we see things that are wrong. We must!

You know, there's a provision in our [Declaration of Independence] for this. Our Founding Fathers thought of this, too. They said that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends--the ones they had just enumerated--it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to form new governments. It is the right of Christian citizens in this country to protest when things go this way.

But we have another citizenship, and that is in God's kingdom. You know, Jesus Himself told us what that means. He said we are to be salt and light. Salt and light. Salt is a little--we use it for seasoning, don't we? Unless you're on a diet. You use salt for seasoning. It makes things taste better. And you know, in the old days, they used to salt meat. Many of you in the south will remember the meat, you know, the salt pork. They used to salt it, to do what? To preserve it, to keep it from rotting. Well, Jesus knew that when He gave the illustration. We are to be seasoning, and keep things from going rotten. That's our job.

And we are to be light. When I was a little girl, I used to love to tell ghost stories--and I was pretty good at it, actually. I would start--I didn't know what I was going to tell; I certainly didn't write it down. But we'd go in a room, usually after church on Sunday night, in my bedroom, get behind the bed--usually about four or five of us little kids--and shut the door so it was just pitch black, you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face, and I would start to tell these ghost stories. But I would scare myself so much that we would just be shaking, I would just be trembling, and I couldn't even get up, I couldn't move, you know, you're just frozen because might get you. And so, I remember being in that point of sheer terror and saying, "Daddy!" and I'd call my dad. I'd hear his footsteps, clump, clump, clump, and he'd come to the bedroom and he would open the bedroom door--and what do you think happened? The darkness did not suddenly cover my father. The light flooded the room. Light exposes darkness. Light makes things beautiful, but it also--you could see the cockroaches in the corner.

We are to be salt and we are to be light. That's what Jesus said. And He also said that for him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Is it right to have those Commandments wheeled out and covered in a room? [audience: "no!"] No. All right.

We must speak out. We must stand against the lawlessness of our culture. We know the importance of God's law, those of us that are Christians, because we have broken it--and we've born the scars of those breaks in our lives. And that's why we know how important they are. We must insist on the acknowledgment of God, because it is our duty as Christians.

One of the scenes that the media loved to show the other day was someone here who was very carried away emotionally when the monument was moved, and started screaming, "Don't take away our God," or something to that effect--yeah, "Put it back, don't take away our God," and they kept replaying that. They loved that. But you know what? We know that God is not confined in a monument or some lettering. Unlike our atheist and ACLU friends, we know that eradicating this monument and others like it can never contain the power of Almighty God. We know that.

But we also understand that symbols do mean something, and that allowing judges to make such rulings without a whimper, we are contributing to the moral free-fall overtaking our culture. That's why it's so important that you are here! Do you know what you're saying to the culture, to judges, to politicians? Do you understand the effect that you are having on this country? Have you thought about what God has called you to do here and now? Thank you, thank you for answering God's call.

So, what shall we do? They've given you some practical points. I want to give you some others. The monument is hidden away in a room up there so that all the atheists and freethinkers of Alabama can be spared its danger, and Justice Moore has been removed from his position with the help of his associate justices, the attorney general, and the governor. He's being investigated as though he were a criminal. So, what shall we do? Well, politically-speaking, this is what I suggest. You must pay attention. If you have not paid attention politically before now, that has to change. You've got to pay attention. You've got to watch the news, read the paper, pay attention. I could say, self-servingly, join CWA, but don't join. Just look at our website. We will keep you up-to-date on issues like this. CWFA.org. But you need to pay attention to what your politicians are doing, and vote accordingly. Vote accordingly.

You've heard much about, I think, I hope, you've heard much about the fiasco in Washington over the judicial nomination process, the filibustering that's going on in the Senate. This has been one of the greatest challenges for CWA, and for me on the radio, is to make this understandable. You know, what does it have to do with you in Montgomery, and what does it have to do with people in Missouri who are listening, or people in California? It has everything to do with what we're talking about tonight, because judges are ones who have turned this culture on its ear, and they have been appointed and approved in the Senate by people who cannot get their liberal ideas passed any other way--and they are still there. They are still there. And right now, our president has appointed some of the finest nominees ever. They are wonderful people, they are people of character, sometimes, and most cases, they're people of faith--that's their great sin--and so, they're being filibustered in the Senate. So, what can you do? You can get those people out of the Senate that are filibustering. Remember when it's vote time, get them out, get them out, and pay attention.

You should see how smug they are. When you go to the Judiciary Committee hearings, the first time I went--I'm a small town girl, and I'm used to going to sporting events, and I could hardly keep my mouth shut. It was like, "Err!" Because they lie, and they are so smug about it. And they lie about these candidates, and they act like they have lofty reasons to oppose them, when they are lying. That's who's representing you. Please, please, I beg you to wake up and get them out. Get them out!

I loved reading that Governor Musgrove from Mississippi is saying, "OK, we want the monument. Bring it over here to Mississippi." I love that. All right, so, you're from all over the place. Let's start a movement, every state requesting that monument be displayed in their capitol building. That would be fabulous. Let's get the Ten Commandments everywhere. Let's put them in every courtroom, let's get them in classrooms. Let's have the ACLU going nuts with these lawsuits. Just put them everywhere. Everywhere!

And let's carry the spirit of Montgomery to Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court convenes on October the sixth. Let's absolutely fill those streets, and let the Supreme Court know how we feel, first-hand.

You know, there was a time when that court was sort of above, you know, social conscience. They wore the black robes and they were the people who were not beholden to the masses, and that was supposed to be good because then they could deliver justice without worrying about being elected. Now, you better believe they read the polls. Look at their last decision. They care what you think. 77% of you said no. They are reading, they are listening. Come to Washington and show them, personally, how you feel about this.

And for those of you who are followers of Christ--and I know many of you are here tonight--we need to repent, personally. Let's not crusade without clean hands and pure hearts. What did God say? You know, I used not understand why there was so much repetition in our faith. You know, we read the Christmas story every Christmas, and we have communion, and we say the same things over and over again. And I'm really a restless person. I'm bored easily--I think I have ADD--and I couldn't understand that, but I finally get it. Because God knows our frame, and He knows we are but human, and that means that we forget. We can't even remember what we did last week. We are, again, debating whether lying is right or wrong. We are talking about, "Gosh, is marriage between a man and woman? Well, why? It's between . . ." We have forgotten.

We have forgotten, and that's why God said in the Old Testament that should write the law on our forehead, on our door post, tell our children in the morning, tell them in the evening. We must remember the law, and repeat it over and over again.

But of course, God doesn't want us to just follow law, He wants us to write the law in our hearts. He wants a deep transformation, so that we serve Him. Keeping the commandments is just a byproduct of that life change. And so, we need to be sure that we're very clear to our friends about what this means. Keeping those rules is not what it's all about; it's keeping them in our hearts.

You know, I thought it would be interesting to see, if you could recite with me--2 Chronicles 7:14 is a verse that you know. You hear it in your churches, we're certainly hearing it now. And so, I'm going to read it with you, I want to recite it with you. Let's just do it together, and remind ourselves again, "If My people which are called by My name shall humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then shall I hear from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land." Only by God's grace, only by His grace and mercy, can we turn our nation around.

I was in Thailand a few years ago, visiting the Karen people who had been very severely persecuted by the Burmese of the Myramar--it's called Myramar, Burma. They had escaped across the river, they were living in these temporary camps--and it took us, I think it was like nineteen hours to get there. We took three different planes, we had to walk through the jungle, and when we got there, it was like a National Geographic picture. There were water buffalo, and this muddy water, and little boys naked playing in the water, and there were thatched huts with, you know, thatched roofs built on stilts because of the flooding. And it was just an amazing thing to go deep into that camp, but as we went into the camp, we saw schools, we saw kids learning English, and we saw theology classes. And they were so poor and so needy, they didn't even have enough food for three meals a day. They were making their own garments, and we were just watching in wonder. And then they gathered us into this big room, and it had just a dirt floor with very roughhewn benches, and the brought all the kids into that room so that we could talk to them--there were about a half a dozen of us--and the headmaster stood up. Now, keep in mind, this was a refugee camp with filthy water, and water buffalo, and people clad in this self-made clothing, and the headmaster asked the kids to stand. They stood at attention, just like that, and they stood and they sang for us, and the words of their song were, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."

They had nothing. They didn't have computers, they didn't have cars, they didn't have freeways, they didn't have skyscrapers, they didn't even have enough food, but they were a noble people because of what God had done in their midst. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!"

Will future generations in America be able to say that? Will we be able to say "God bless America"? Will our children's children be able to do that? If we do not fight now, they will not, but I believe if we do, they can.

God bless America. Thank you.