Lansing - James Cabaniss has spent the past year traveling around the country with a 5,300-pound statue of the Ten Commandments.
Cabaniss, a 72-year-old retired mechanical engineer from Texas, has traveled through 21 states with the monument that once sat in an Alabama courthouse. The monument stopped in front of the state Capitol on Wednesday.
Cabiniss and a group of war veterans travel with the statue to promote states displaying the Ten Commandments publicly.
"The Ten Commandments are the clearest and most powerful wisdom ever handed down from God to mankind," Cabaniss said.
The monument originally was placed in the Alabama courthouse by Chief Justice Roy Moore. He was ordered to remove the monument and was fired when he refused to do so in 2003.
Dozens of supporters lined up to stand next to the monument and took pictures, as others protested the traveling statue and held signs near the street.
Several protesters at the Capitol on Wednesday said the statue and others like it violate the separation between church and state.
"There is opposition to posting the commandments on government property," said Lee Helms, 52, of Rochester Hills. "The government does not have the authority to endorse any particular religion."
The four sides of the monument also have inscriptions showing the relationship between God and the government. It is strapped to a flatbed truck and is covered by a plastic shed while in transit.
American Veterans in Domestic Defense, which operates the tour, placed donation cans on the truck and on a table Wednesday.
Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo, worked to bring the monument to Michigan. Its next stop is Grand Rapids.
"It's a beautiful piece of art," Hoogendyk said.
Lansing Community College political science Professor Jerry Roe said the monument does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
"It says the government can't establish a religion; the thing about separation between church and state was introduced by judges," said Roe, who also is former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.
But many of the protesters said by displaying the monument on government property, the government was putting Christianity above other religions.
"When you combine politics and religion you get discrimination, and this has been proven in history," said Bernie Klein, 71, of Ann Arbor. "This country's done a good job of keeping religion out of politics, but in recent years that's been slipping, and I try to fight that wherever I can."
Although the statue was only at the Capitol on Wednesday, Rep. Robert Gosselin, R-Troy, sponsored a bill to have a statue of the commandments permanently on display.
"People who oppose this have a right to say their opinion, but we have a right to express our religion," Gosselin said.
Rep. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, also introduced a bill that would allow having the commandments on government property, as long as other historical documents were displayed prominently together. It was referred to the House Committee on Government Operations.
"There's a movement afoot to erode from our county any mention of something that has a religious nature," said Marty Fittante, Casperson's legislative aide.
But Arlene-Marie, state director of American Atheists, said legislators shouldn't try to create a permanent monument.
"It's a sad testimony to our legislators," Marie said. "Who would do something like promote Christianity when we live in a culturally diverse state as Michigan? How can they do this?"
Rebecca McNulty can be reached at mcnult13@msu.edu.
