About 200 people rallied Wednesday at the State Capitol in support of public displays of the Ten Commandments and unrestricted acknowledgments of God.

Organizers of the rally are leading a series of demonstrations that began Sunday in Montgomery, Ala., where Chief Justice Roy Moore was ordered to remove a 5,300-pound monument from that state’s capital rotunda. The sculpture was inscribed with the Ten Commandments and Moore’s case has caused a national outcry from conservative Christians over the removal of God from public places.

“It’s not just a matter of majority rule and political power,” said the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, “it’s a matter of right and wrong.

“We can’t decide for ourselves moral absolutes. They are delivered to us.”

The caravan made five stops, including rallies at the Georgia and South Carolina state capitals, before reaching Raleigh. Organizers will visit six more locations in Virginia and Washington, D.C., where they will deliver petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court. The appeals ask the court to overrule the decision in Moore’s case. Steve Elliott, president of Grassfire.net, said he has collected more than 250,000 petitions through his website.

North Carolina Rep. Russell Capps was among the local leaders who participated in the Raleigh event. He said he wishes he could be at the Supreme Court when it opens its session Monday. “I am in full support of this project and I think Judge Moore was totally right in his decisions,” he said.

The Rev. Schenck said caravan supporters are not alone in their belief that public displays of the Ten Commandments are permitted under the Constitution. He cited a recent USA Today poll that found that 70 percent of responders approve of such monuments in public areas.

He also said that the ACLU, which “stands to make millions on this controversy,” is the only major group that opposes displays of the Ten Commandments. Those that claim other religions are offended by the displays are misguided, he said.

The Rev. Schenck said religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism are “synchronistic,” meaning “they embrace the best of all other religions.”

“These other religious groups are made out to be prejudicial,” he said. “They’re not. [Those] are straw men.”

Chesser is an associate editor at Carolina Journal.