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Virginia School Board Sued Over Ten Commandments

Civil liberties groups want plaque removed from hallway

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 14, 2011 2:33 PM CDT

(Newser) – Dispatches from the church-and-state front:

  • Ten Commandments: Civil liberties groups have sued the school board in Giles County, Virginia, demanding that a Ten Commandments plaque be removed from a high school hallway. The board says it's simply part of a display of historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence, but the federal lawsuit by the ACLU and others calls that a "sham" excuse and says the plaque is up "with the primary aim of advancing religion," reports the Roanoke Times.

  • Classroom banners: A federal appeals court has ruled against a teacher in San Diego who put up big banners in his classroom with phrases like "In God We Trust" and "God Bless America." Math teacher Bradley Johnson sued after a principal ordered him to take down the banners, calling them the "promotion of a particular viewpoint." Johnson won his first court battle, arguing that his 1st Amendment rights had been violated, but he lost yesterday's appeal in federal court, reports the Los Angeles Times.

File photo of a Ten Commandments sculpture.
File photo of a Ten Commandments sculpture.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 114 comments
Mykeru
Sep 15, 2011 11:03 AM CDT
"The board says it's simply part of a display of historical documents" Wow, along with a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence they have a reproduction of the actual stone tablets Moses carried down from Mount Sinai which definitely settles which version of the Ten Commandments (Exodus v. Deuteronomy) is God's Law?  Of course, of all the commandments, the first one "good Christians" abandon is the one prohibiting bearing false witness, without which politically motivated Republican Jesus religion could not exist. 
tpniedermann
Sep 15, 2011 10:47 AM CDT
This is an issue that could potentially backfire in the Christian Right's face.  The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is pretty clear that overtly religious symbols cannot be displayed. But yes, the traditions upon which America is based are Christian.  But the Founders (Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson et al.) were almost all Deists, and would probably be considered agnostic to atheist today, so their intentions were hardly the same as those of today's Christian Right. In addition, the Ten Commandments are not what most people think they are. At the risk of being accused of self-promotion, my book "The Words That Crated God: An Atheist Reveals the True Meaning of the Ten Commandments," shows that the 10 Cs are entirely secular in origin, relate to the requirements of a viable,stable  society, and have little to do with God. In fact, they are not God's law at all; they are in many ways prerequisites for the existence of monotheism, not a product of it. The book is available on Amazon.com and a sample can be read for free.  The real First Commandment?: Thou shalt not kill. It would be nice if people obeyed that one.So, posting the 10Cs in schools and courtrooms? Not really constitutional. But a discussion of their value is rewarding to everyone, from Christians to atheists and everyone in between.
summerfairy
Sep 15, 2011 2:23 AM CDT
I would expect the current SCOTUS would not support the ACLU in this, thats prolly why the school board is not knuckling under like so many have in the past.

 
religion • separation of church and state • public schools • Ten Commandments • freedom of speech

 
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