March 27, 2008

Court Upholds 10 Commandments On Public Land

A nearly 50-year-old monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments does not violate the Constitution just because it sits nearly alone on public grounds in a Washington city, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

The division between church and state is a core principle of American democracy, but courts have long struggled to find exactly where the dividing line falls.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals cited precedent rulings in this latest case, which involves a 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter-tall) granite monument near the Old City Hall in Everett, Washington, about 25 miles north of Seattle.

The court found that the monument did not have a solely religious purpose. "Nothing about the setting is conducive to genuflection," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for a three-judge panel.
How on earth can a monument depicting the 10 commandments from the christian bible not be solely religious? They are religious rules. By definition it is a religious monument, And it's on public land, owned by you, The tax payer.

4 comments:

  1. I would have to agree with you. Now, if they were modified and never mentioned God, I might say there is no problem. If it was just a bunch of 'thou shalt nots,' I don't think it would be a problem. Though I do see it as a violation of the seperation church and state.

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  2. this is a direct violation of church and state. the land is maintained by taxpayers, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Atheist, etc. not all of these groups believe in the ten commandments. why should they pay to keep them there.
    the supreme court is loaded with Bush's buddies that are more well versed in the bible than in the constitution. they are trying to make Christianity the state religion, regardless of what the founders of the country wanted.

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  3. Anybody know if there are tablets handed down form FSM or IPU? I think we should petition this Washington town that it would only be fair to allow us to place them in the same public park as the 10 Commandments monument. The only reason to object to it would be that it also (along with the 10C's) is a direct violation of the First Amendment.

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  4. I always take a certain delight in pointing out to patriotic American Christians that four of the Ten Commandments are unconstitutional.

    They hate that!

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