Alabama chief justice refuses to display atheist symbol alongside commandments

By The Associated Press,
freedomform.org staff

09.11.01

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Ten Commandments displays have sparked debate in two Southern states.

In Alabama, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who recently installed a Ten Commandments display in the state judicial building, has denied a request from an atheists group to put a statue of the organization's symbol in the lobby of the building.

Meanwhile, according to a recent newspaper survey in Kentucky, nearly one-fourth of the counties in the state have the Ten Commandments posted in public buildings, despite a judge's order that has brought such displays down in some counties.

In Alabama, American Atheists Inc. is the latest group to try to place a statue in the state judicial building since Moore had a monument to the Ten Commandments quietly moved into the building in August.

The group's state director Larry Darby had sent a letter to Moore requesting permission to place the statue in the building.

Moore replied Sept. 7 with a letter denying the request, saying it was rejected "as not being in conformity with the purpose or theme of the foundation of American Law and government."

Darby said the sculpture would have served as a counterpoint to the Ten Commandments monument and "to remind visitors that our American judicial system and government were forged from Enlightenment thinking."

A group of black legislators is seeking to place a monument in the building honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. Moore told them last week to submit a letter.

He had said through a spokesman he did not plan to allow any displays in the building other than the Ten Commandments monument, which also contains quotations from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other Founding Fathers.

Moore has said its purpose is to show that the commandments inspired modern law.

Moore, a Republican, displayed a wooden plaque of the commandments on the wall of his courtroom when he was a circuit court judge. He was elected chief justice in November after campaigning as "Alabama's Ten Commandments judge."

Meanwhile in Kentucky, a review by the Louisville Courier-Journal of all 120 counties in the state found that the commandments are posted in public areas of 27 of the state's county courthouses.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky is preparing to file lawsuits to have the commandments either removed or blended with displays that don't endorse religion, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

In the past two years, two federal judges in Kentucky have ruled in the ACLU's favor three times on the issue. In the earlier cases, the ACLU challenged displays in two courthouses and one school district.

Some officials say they remain committed to displaying the commandments. Laurel County Judge-Executive Jimmy Williams said he didn't fear a lawsuit when he erected a 4-foot-tall copy of the commandments in his courthouse two years ago.

"I was afraid not to because it was the Lord who inspired and compelled me to do it," said Williams, an ordained Missionary Baptist minister. "I love the Lord, but I fear Him, too."

Kentucky has long been at the center of the Ten Commandments display debate. In 1978, the General Assembly passed a law requiring posting the commandments in schools. Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional.

More recently, U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood struck down state legislation that called for erecting a monument to the Ten Commandments on the state Capitol lawn.

Update

'Ten Commandments Judge' hit with lawsuit over monument
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania display draws lawsuit; officials in Tennessee, Florida criticized for calls to support or post religious codes.  11.03.01

Previous

'Ten Commandments Judge' erects monument in state Supreme Court
Americans United calls Alabama chief justice’s 5,280-pound display a ‘monumental violation of the U.S. Constitution.’  08.05.01

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Kentucky officials ordered to remove Ten Commandments displays — again
Three counties had reposted religious codes despite federal judge’s previous order to take them down.  06.25.01

Ten Commandments displays prompt more lawsuits in Kentucky
ACLU takes four more local governments to court for posting religious codes in courthouses.  11.28.01