More than 100 people gathered at the State House on Tuesday to rally support for displaying the Ten Commandments in courthouses and other public buildings nationwide.

The “Keep the Commandments Caravan,” a national tour sponsored by a coalition of faith organizations, is stopping in five states to protest recent court decisions banning the religious doctrine from display in government buildings.

Rally leaders asked supporters to sign online petitions and follow the group to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

“The Ten Commandments unite the American people, they do not divide us,” the Rev. Rob Schenck of Washington, said to cheers and “amens.”

Schenck told the crowd he was there two years ago when the Ten Commandments monument was installed in the state Judiciary Building in Montgomery, Ala., and spent the night in jail when it was removed Aug. 28.

The idea of taking a rally on the road was prompted in part by the suspension of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Moore refused a federal judge’s order to remove the 5,300-pound monument he requisitioned for the courthouse. The judge ruled it violated the constitutional ban on government endorsement of a religion.

Debbie Church, of Charlotte, held a sign at Tuesday’s rally that read, “Stop federal establishment of secular religion.”

She has been following the caravan because she says the Ten Commandments are the nation’s moral and legal foundation. “I want to stop justices from legislating from the bench,” she said.

Others held Ten Commandments signs, U.S. flags and Christian crosses. A copy of the Alabama monument was on display.

David Kennison, an S.C. member of the National Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, also was at the State House. He said he, too, is concerned religious freedom is in danger — for a different reason.

“Freedom of religion is threatened by people who falsely believe that they advance the cause of religion when they ask government to support it,” he said.

Schenck said a delegation invited Gov. Mark Sanford to speak, but he did not attend. Monday in Atlanta, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue did endorse the rally’s cause. Sanford spokesman Will Folks said Sanford had other meetings scheduled for the day.