The controversy surrounding former Justice Roy Moore and his infamous Ten Commandments monument has been one of the biggest the state of Alabama has ever encountered. Moore's religious stand has received national support, as well as opposition, as many have debated the issue of Separation of Church and State. Many people perceive Moore as an influential person who abused his power while others see him as a good, Christian man who lost not only his job, but his freedom of religion as well.
             Roy Moore was born in Etowah County, Alabama. He grew up on a poor farm and greatly admired his father, who was a strong Christian. One of Moore's close friends, Frank Bailey, described him as "just poor country... He knows what it is to make a cotton crop with a team of mules and cut wood with a crosscut saw. The frame house he lived in was built on rock piles for corner posts and had no indoor plumbing...Roy never forgot his rural roots, and his daddy taught him to honor God, cherish his family, and love his country."
             When he was in ninth grade, Roy Moore saw a movie about the United States Military Academy and decided that he wanted to join the military and go to school there. He studied hard and after graduating from Etowah High School in 1965, he was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. His father had to sell his toolbox for $300 so that Roy could get to New York. Moore graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1969. He was then stationed in Germany for sixteen months, before being shipped to Vietnam as a Captain in the Military Police Corps. While in Vietnam, he was also appointed Company Commander. He was also stationed in Ft. Riley, Kansas as a Battalion Staff Officer.
             In 1974, Roy Moore returned to Alabama and attended the University of Alabama School of Law. After receiving his Juris Doctorate in 1977, he served as assistant district attorney in Etowah County. After some trouble r...