FORT PAYNE, Alabama - Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, famous for his defiant courthouse display of the Ten Commandments, said the nation must return to its moral and constitutional roots and said that same-sex marriage will be the downfall of the country.

Speaking to a rally of the DeKalb County Tea Party, Moore, who is seeking to regain the office of chief justice, called the upcoming national election a choice between two fundamentally different paths for the country.

"We cannot continue to borrow the future of our children and our grandchildren or we will suffer the consequences. We can't keep going into debt. We can't keep disparaging our military and promoting things like same-sex marriage, L-G-B-T. To hear the President of the United States say that we are promoting L-G-B-T. Let's think about what that is: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered rights," Moore said.

"Same sex marriage will be the ultimate destruction of our country because it destroys the very foundation upon which this nation is based. Divisive, I've been accused of being divisive I'll tell you what's divisive. It's this Democratic platform," Moore said.

The national Democratic Party last month offered its first formal support for same-sex marriage rights.

The 20-minute speech threw out plenty of political red meat for the conservative crowd by touching on issues ranging from gas prices to unemployment.

"Today we've got to go back to that U.S. Constitution. We've got to go back to the acknowledgement of God for very basic, relative reasons. People have forgotten why we need God. But let me tell you, without God, you have no rights," Moore said.

Asked after his speech what the federal political issues had to do with his run for a statewide office, Moore, who lives in Gallant, said most in the crowd of more than 100 were already familiar with him.

"These people are neighbors. I live not too far from here. They all know me ... I wanted to cover what is generally applicable to all of us because they know I'm running for chief justice," Moore said.

Moore said Democrats wanted a government that is "trying to provide everything to everybody."

"It simply can't do that. A government big enough to do that, is big enough to take everything away from you. We are losing our rights and freedoms and the very fundamentals of our society like traditional marriage,"Moore said.

Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, said of Moore's comments on gay marriage that it was,"heartbreaking we still have this divisiveness." Todd is the chair of Equality Alabama and the state's first openly gay legislator.

"It's almost laughable to me. We're going to bring the downfall of the country? When you have war and the economy? When you look at states that have same sex marriage, they're all doing pretty good," Todd said.

Moore faces Jefferson County Circuit Judge Robert Vance Jr. in the Nov. 6 race for chief justice. Vance, a Democrat, is the son of former federal judge Robert Smith Vance, who was assassinated by a mail bomb in 1989.

Vance said Moore was not "focusing on the issues that are actually affecting Alabama."

"The whole issue of same sex marriage is a non-issue. Alabama has got a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage," Vance said.

"He is simply throwing out red meat to distract people. We need to be focusing on the real issues affecting our courts and what the next chief justice has to do," Vance said.

Moore said he varies his topics in his speeches talking about different things to different groups and he thought the Tea Party group would be interested in national issues. Moore did not mention Vance at all during the rally speech.

Moore catapulted to fame as an Etowah County circuit judge over controversies about opening his court with prayer and displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom.

Moore was elected chief justice in 2000 but was removed in 2003 for his refusal to obey a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building.

Moore, in his second bid for chief justice, maintains some of his old trademarks on the campaign trail, quoting lengthy passages by memory from the country's founding fathers.

One thing that is different this time around is Moore has said he will not replace the Ten Commandments monument if elected. Moore said the issue should be about the "acknowledgement of God" and not a particular monument.

Rainsville City Councilman Fred Bobo, who attended the rally, said he thought Moore was wise not to be inviting another stand-off with the federal courts over the monument. Bobo said Moore had his full support in the election.

"He's a man of principle. He's a man I would go into battle with, that would I follow," Bobo said.

Updated at 6:32 p.m and at 7:05 p.m. with additional comments.