Memphis-Area Church Unveils Biblically-Themed 'Statue of Liberty'

by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
July 11, 2006

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(AgapePress) - - A Tennessee pastor is combining patriotism and Christianity in a unique way. Recently, a 72-foot-tall statue was unveiled at World Overcomers Outreach Ministries in Hickory Hill near Memphis, a monument the church leaders call "the Statue of Liberation."

Although designed to resemble the 151-foot Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, World Overcomers' statue has a few distinct features in addition to its smaller size. Instead of a single tablet inscribed with the date of the Declaration of Independence, the 72-foot figure erected by the Tennessee church holds in its left hand two tablets representing the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God to govern His people. In the figure's other hand, in place of a torch, is a large cross. And engraved on the figure's crown is the word "Jehovah."

Recently, World Overcomers' pastor, Apostle Alton Williams, discussed his 12,000-member church's statue on the Fox News Channel. He said the massive monument was conceived as a way to represent the idea that the United States is a nation founded on biblical principles.

"We just wanted to send a message to let people know that God established this nation," Williams explains. "We wanted to see people come back to the source of their moral foundations, which are Judeo-Christian foundations. So that was the intent of putting up this monument."

The Memphis area mega-church leader says he wanted to remind local residents and other passersby about America's religious heritage. "If you really did honest research on the foundations of this nation," he asserts, "you would find out that the Founding Fathers of our nation and many of our early Supreme Court rulings established that this nation would be a Christian nation."

Sadly, Williams acknowledges, America has in many ways failed to honor its Judeo-Christian heritage and has "departed from that since 1962 and 1963, when prayer was taken out of school." He refers to the two landmark Supreme Court decisions -- Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Abington Township v. Schempp (1963) -- that effectively outlawed staff-led prayer in public schools, based on the argument that the U.S. Constitution requires a so-called separation of church and state.

"You can go back and establish that year as a beginning of a downward spiral that we have seen in our nation in every area," the Tennessee pastor contends. He says the United States is continuing on that downward spiral, and the only thing that can reverse its direction is true revival.

World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church unveiled its $260,000 monument to the nation's religious heritage at a recent Fourth of July ceremony. The towering figure overlooking Hickory Hill is now visible to drivers on nearby Winchester Road and Kirby Parkway, and according to local media accounts, the Lady Liberty replica already has the community talking.

Williams' hope is that people will not be able to drive by his congregation's statue without thinking about their relationship with God. Just as America's Statue of Liberty symbolizes liberty and freedom from oppression, he says the "Statue of Liberation" represents the true freedom found in Jesus Christ.