If he is now saying it's about decorations, he's gutless.
He never said that before, he stuck by his principles, and he took the consequences. If he's recanting, then it's really been a total waste of time and an awful lot of money (at least $1 million spent by Alabama taxpayers on this so far).
His point all along has been his insistence that it's a matter of free speech. He has specifically said that "he" must acknowledge God. He does have to acknowledge that God is acknowledged in the Alabama constitution.
Paraphrase: He must ADMIT that God is ADMITTED TO in the Alabama Constitution.
He chooses to ADMIT it in many ways, no doubt, to include using his prerogatives as chief justice in the decorating choices for the court building.
It's just a piece of rock art admitting an invisible God and it has God-words written on it.
It admits to God, just the same as the Alabama constitution.