Supreme Court to rule on Ten Commandments displays
- Oct 15, 2004 - comment
The Supreme Court will review lower-court rulings involving displays of the Ten Commandments on government property in Kentucky and Texas, it was announced Oct. 12. Review of the decisions was granted separately, and oral arguments in the cases are expected in February, possibly on the same day.
It marked the first time the justices have agreed to such a case since 1980, when they ruled a Kentucky law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms was unconstitutional.
District courts and appeals courts in the federal judiciary are deeply divided over whether Ten Commandments displays are constitutional. Four appeals courts have ruled in favor of such displays, while three appeals courts have decided they are unconstitutional, according to Liberty Counsel, which litigates church-state cases.
Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, welcomed the fact the high court “has finally decided it has to make a ruling. The Supreme Court’s job is to adjudicate lower court rulings that conflict with one another.”
In the case out of Kentucky, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a display of historical documents in two county courthouses is unconstitutional.
In the case from Texas, meanwhile, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court ruled unanimously a stand-alone monument of the Ten Commandments on the state capitol grounds in Austin is constitutional. The Fraternal Order of Eagles donated and paid for the granite monument, and it was accepted by the Texas legislature in 1961. The six-foot-tall monument stands with other monuments outside the capitol building.
“Given the previous rulings by this court, it is impossible to predict whether it will strike down both displays, approve both displays, or accept the donated display and reject the government-sponsored display,” Land said. “This is an issue where vast majorities of American would have the court approve both displays.”
The Kentucky case is McCreary County v. ACLU, and the Texas case is Van Orden v. Perry.
The ERLC’s For Faith & Family launched an effort to have families place a copy of the Ten Commandments in the entity’s September-October magazine.
“The Ten Commandments are the bedrock of Christian ethics and form the foundation for a lifestyle that honors God,” reads the article. It notes that while Christians shouldn’t back down in their efforts to have the Ten Commandments posted in public venues, perhaps the “best place to start is within our families.” Therefore the magazine called on individuals to post the Ten Commandments in their homes for a host of scriptural reasons, as laid out in the article.
For more information on the initiative or purchasing a framed and matted copy of the Ten Commandments, visit www.familybookstore.net or phone (800) 475-9127.
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