MONTGOMERY, Ala. May 19, 2004 —

Not content to ban the acknowledgement of God from the Alabama Supreme Court, now Alabama officials are barring public employees from acknowledging God.

Christopher Word, the former membership services director for the Hoover Chamber of Commerce was fired yesterday because he refused to remove a Ten Commandments pin from his lapel. Word lives in Gadsden, Alabama where he attends church with Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Word is quoted as having said: “Now this effort to choke out any reference to God has gone after normal people.”

In an official statement by former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy S. Moore stated:

“The Hoover Chamber of Commerce should be embarrassed and ashamed to force a young man like Christopher Word to choose between his faith and his job. This demonstrates the perilous times in which we live. We are fortunate to have men like Christopher who stand firm in the face of tyranny and will not surrender their right to acknowledge God.”