Employee fired for Commandments pin

A chamber of commerce employee in Alabama says he was fired for wearing a small lapel pin depicting the Ten Commandments.

Controversial pin (WSFA-TV, Montgomery, Ala.)

Christopher Word – who attends the same church as "Ten Commandments judge" Roy Moore – said his boss, Hoover, Ala., Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bill Powell, confronted him Monday after a weekly staff meeting, the Birmingham News reported.

Word said he was told, "I could either take it off or I've got to go."

The employee, who began wearing the pin in January, said he was allowed the rest of the day off to talk to his family about the decision.

The next morning, Word said, "I told [Powell] I cannot violate my conscience to that point."

Word decided not to resign and was fired, he said, according to the Birmingham paper.

The gold pin, in the shape of the Ten Commandment tablets, contained only the Roman numerals one through 10, the News said.

Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice ousted for refusing a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments display from the state judicial building, weighed in on the controversy.

"The Hoover Chamber of Commerce should be embarrassed and ashamed to force a young man like Christopher Word to chose between his faith and his job," Moore said in a statement. "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."

Word said he had been wearing the pin "because I personally support the Ten Commandments and the public display of the Ten Commandments," the Birmingham paper reported.

An attorney for the Hoover Chamber of Commerce, A.W. Bolt, told reporters yesterday, "Wearing a monument pin in 2004 is a political act and we all know it."

"Chris volunteered to a chamber employee that wearing the pin was the result of his long friendship with, knowledge and support of Chief Justice Roy Moore," Bolt said.

Christopher Word (WVTM-TV, Birmingham)

The pin appears identical to one Moore wears and sells on his website, according to WVTM-TV in Birmingham.

Word said he stopped wearing the pin a few months ago after Powell told him "he had some concerns."

But a week later, Word told his boss he wanted to wear it again after suffering a crisis of conscience. Powell, according to Word, agreed, saying he could continue to wear it as long as it didn't affect his work.

Powell also said, according to Word, he would support his employee if any chamber members raised objections.

But Word said he was fired after a chamber member told Powell he was worried about the pin from "a public relations" perspective, the News reported.

Word had accompanied Powell on a trip to visit prospective chamber members when they dropped in on longtime member Don Levy, owner of Levy Advertising, who asked about the pin. Levy said he didn't object to "any religious connotation," but Word "took it one step further" and explained why he wore it.

Levy said Powell called him after the visit and he told Powell he was worried about the pin.

"I think he's representing everyone when you're out trying to get chamber members," Levy told the News.

Word insisted yesterday the pin had no political connotation.

A friend of Word's, Republican state Rep. Blaine Galliher, said Powell told him Word was making a political statement.

Galliher disagreed, telling the News, "He didn't have 'Vote for Roy Moore' on his lapel, he had the Ten Commandments."

Word, whose father is executive pastor of CrossPoint Community Church in Gadsden, Ala., where Moore is a member, relates his firing to Moore's removal from office.

"Now this effort to choke out any reference to God has gone after normal people," Word told the Birmingham paper.

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