Friends, foes of commandments displays claim history is with them
By The Associated Press
01.02.02
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| Rowan County Judge-Executive Clyde A.Thomas poses with the Ten Commandments in the county's fiscal court meeting room in Morehead, Ky. The ACLU has sued the county to have the display removed. |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Those who want the Ten Commandments posted in Kentucky courthouses say history is on their side. A civil liberties group that wants the displays taken down makes the same claim.
In one corner of the legal fight — which has been waged from courthouses and schools in rural Kentucky to federal courtrooms — is the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. It cites a fundamental principle from the nation's founding fathers — separation of church and state.
On the opposite side are county officials, backed by a conservative legal group, who claim the commandments played a historic role in the nation's development.
As such, they contend, posting the commandments in public buildings is permissible as part of educational or comparative religion displays. Most of the Kentucky displays are surrounded by such historic documents as the Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact.
"They are presenting them in a historical way to show what impact the Ten Commandments played in the foundation of our system of law and government, and that's perfectly permissible for them to do so," said Erik Stanley, an attorney for Liberty Counsel of Orlando, Fla., a rival civil liberties group representing some of the counties being sued.
In the 1980 decision Stone v. Graham, a case out of Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that posting the commandments in schools amounted to an unconstitutional government promotion of religion.
Jeff Vessels, executive director of the ACLU of Kentucky, said the displays in the counties being sued don't meet the court standard of separation of church and state.
So far, the ACLU has sued seven Kentucky counties in two rounds of federal lawsuits. The displays are in courthouses, schools and a county-owned hospital.
The ACLU has prevailed in the initial judgments in the latest dispute, but more rulings are to come.
Last November, the ACLU sued four rural counties, seeking to have the displays removed from courthouses. All four counties kept the commandments posted and intend to fight the suits.
At least 20 other Kentucky counties post the commandments in public buildings, including courtrooms, and each could be the next target for litigation, said Vessels.
In a preliminary ruling, a federal judge ordered Ten Commandments displays taken down in two county courthouses and a school district. The counties complied but are seeking court consent to repost the displays.
Another judge struck down state legislation to erect a monument to the commandments on the state Capitol lawn in Frankfort, saying the display was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The ruling is being appealed.
Some critics have branded the ACLU as un-American or un-Christian in calls and letters to its Louisville office.
"It is the ultimate patriotic act to defend what makes this country unique, and that is freedom and equality that are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights," Vessels said.
Individuals can exercise their free-speech and religious rights by displaying the commandments any way they wish, with the ACLU's blessing, Vessels said. However, he said: "When government endorses religion, it is violating the religious freedom guaranteed to all of us."
"I think what the ACLU is trying to do is to rip away from public life every shred of religion that has impacted our country," said Stanley.
After Rowan County was sued, people rallied around the display posted more than two years ago in the chambers of the little-used Fiscal Court.
When county magistrates met to decide whether to keep the display, a larger meeting room was needed and the crowd spilled into the hallway.
"It was the largest crowd that we've ever had for anything since I've been in office," said Rowan County Judge-Executive Clyde A. Thomas.
There was almost unanimous support to keep the displays, so the county decided to fight the suit, he said. The Fiscal Court added some historical documents to its display.
After the ACLU filed its second round of suits, some callers to its office noted the dangers of government endorsing religion, citing the Taliban in Afghanistan, Vessels said.
"They pointed out the irony of having governments in Kentucky wanting to impose religious views on citizens at the same time the nation is fighting on the other side of the world against those who would impose their religious views on others," he said. "That irony is not lost on many people."