NEW YORK (CNN) - The Ten Commandments haven't stirred up this much excitement since Charlton Heston and Cecil B. DeMille were responsible for tens of thousands of busloads of kids getting out of school early to see the epic 1956 movie in matinees all over the country.

Too many news accounts of what's going on in Montgomery have framed this controversy as a battle royal between stereotypical bible-thumpers and stereotypical Godless heathens.

The truth is both sides have intelligent, and I'm sure heartfelt arguments to support their positions; the issue is for some a matter of religion, for others a matter of law, for others it's all about politics. I see it a little differently.

Certainly for me it's a simple matter: The chief justice of Alabama, for what may be the best of intentions, put a two-and-a-half ton monument in a state building, without the approval of the governor, the legislature and the other justices who sit on the bench with him. I can't support any state official unilaterally doing something like that; it's still the people's government.

If the people of Alabama, the majority, want the monument well, that's up to them. Then a contest between state's rights and the federal government can ensue. But until they express themselves, through a referendum, or their elected representatives, this controversial two-and-a-half ton stone is more a monument to the ego of the chief justice than to religious beliefs or even the law that devolves from them in our Judeo-Christian culture and heritage.

That heritage and culture, whether you are religious or not, is certainly worthy of preservation...and isn't threatened by a monument removed from a government building by a lawful order of the courts. Nor will it be assured if the courts order it to remain in place.

By the way, it was a great movie.