MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Focus on the Family founder James Dobson told about 1,000 people gathered at the Alabama Judiciary Building that the recent battle over the removal of a Ten Commandments monument symbolizes the need for change in America's judiciary more than concerns over the monument's Aug. 27 removal.
Pointing to rulings legalizing abortion, removing the Pledge of Allegiance from schools and threatening the definition of marriage, Dobson told the crowd that national media reports have focused on the wrong issue.
"They have not understood it at all, and that's why I came here to say to you it's not about the Ten Commandments," said Dobson, at the Aug. 28 rally. His ministry is based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The issue is about "un-elected" and "non-accountable" justices who are "determined to shove their wishes down our throat."
Calling the U.S. judiciary an "oligarchy," Dobson said Christians must press Congress to let the people -- not judges -- decide what laws and behavior are acceptable in the U.S.
"We're in a great moral struggle of our own. ... It can be said that people of faith are being sent to the back of the bus, and we're not going to go there," Dobson said, referring to Rosa Parks' legendary struggle for equal rights, which began in Montgomery 40 years ago.
Dobson encouraged the crowd to support the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would add language to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex "marriage." Several pro-family groups, including Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, support it.
"You can't sit this one out, because we're down to the last year or two," Dobson said of the same-sex "marriage" issue. "I'm absolutely convinced of that."
Dobson pointed to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll showing that 77 percent of Americans oppose the court order requiring the monument's Aug. 27 removal from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building to a side room.
"If there are 200 million adults in this country, that's 150 million that are standing with you today," he said.
