I was just made awar…

I was just made aware of this press release from last Wednesday. This is from the Liberty Council, who presented oral arguments in favor of keeping 10 Commandments displays in public places.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 2, 2005

The Ten Commandments Are A Universally Recognized Symbol Of Law Particularly Appropriate To Display In A Courthouse

Washington, D.C. – Today, Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, released the following statement after presenting oral argument at the United States Supreme Court in the Kentucky Ten Commandments case, known as McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky. Staver said, “The Ten Commandments are a universally recognized symbol of law. A visitor to the United States Supreme Court cannot enter the very chambers where argument was heard without coming into contact with the Ten Commandments. They are engraved at the main entrance on the double wooden doors, and they also appear on the bronze gates which exit from either side. Inside the Court, the only written inscription of the numerous architectural depictions is the Decalogue in Hebrew text. The Ten Commandments are featured in the central position on this Court’s East Pediment. Richmond County, Georgia, has used the symbol of the Ten Commandments on its seal since at least 1872, so that even the illiterate could recognize legal documents stamped with this imprint. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down the Pledge of Allegiance, has had the Ten Commandments in its official court seal for at least 100 years. The Ten Commandments have also influenced our common vernacular, by giving rise to numerous pithy sayings, like ‘The Ten Commandments of a Good Golf Swing.'”

Staver continued, “Despite the fact that the Ten Commandments are uniquely embedded in our history and appear in the Kentucky courthouses in a Foundations of Law display, some would have the Court confuse an acknowledgment with an establishment of religion. There is a critical difference between government acknowledgments of religion, which the Constitution permits, versus an establishment of religion, which the Constitution forbids. It is not surprising that in a Nation established by religious refugees, we find references to the divine in our songs, in our mottos, in our architecture and in our documents. To erase our history would eliminate the essence of this country – a Nation founded upon religious freedom, where we can acknowledge God and religion and where freedom of conscience is not trampled. If the Ten Commandments are unconstitutional, and if when government merely acknowledges religion, it thereby establishes it, then the sight of sandblasters will become common, and the rapid fire of merciless jackhammers will disturb our peace. Our Constitution was not intended to foster callous hostility toward religious expression.”

Here are loads of examples of public displays of religion, many featuring the Ten Commandments. (Don’t forget to click on the “Part II” link at the bottom for even more.) These are all taken from government buildings just in the District of Columbia. Are we to really believe that all these displays, from down through the years, are all unconstitutional? Do we supposedly know better what the Founders meant by the First Amendment than those who lived far closer to it’s writing?

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