Court takes on religious displays

The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to decide whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed on government property.

BARTOW - The monument stands inside the Polk County administration building on Church Street, three tons of polished granite gleaming in the lobby.

A replica of the Liberty Bell rests on top. Among the monument's many engravings are the Declaration of Independence and Hammurabi's code. But it is another engraving that has become the subject of legal battles from coast to coast: the Ten Commandments.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ended a quarter-century of silence on the issue and agreed to decide the constitutionality of displaying the commandments in courtrooms, town halls and on government property.

The cases the court will hear came from Kentucky and Texas. But the decision, likely to come before July, will have ripple effects around the country and set a major precedent on the perpetual debate about separation of church and state.

One of those ripples is sure to pass through Polk County.

The last time the Supreme Court dealt with the issue was 1980, when the court banned the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools.

But other battles about the commandments have wound up in courtrooms around the country, with conflicting decisions.

One of the most high-profile cases began in 2001, when Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, lost his job after refusing to remove a 5,300-pound granite monument of the Ten Commandments he had placed in the state courthouse.

"The moral beliefs of our country are founded on God, on the Scriptures," Moore told a crowd in Tampa last year. "If you can't acknowledge God, you can't acknowledge your Constitution and liberties."

The Supreme Court last week refused to help him get his job back. The court has for years passed up other cases that broached the issue.

But the justices apparently settled on two worthy test cases and decided to enter the fiery debate.

In the Texas case, a homeless man named Thomas Van Orden lost his lawsuit to have a 6-foot granite monument removed from the state Capitol grounds. A group called the Fraternal Order of Eagles gave the exhibit to the state in 1961.

The group gave similar monuments to American towns throughout the 1950s and 60s, leading to many court battles.

In the Kentucky case, officials in two counties hung framed copies of the Ten Commandments in their courthouses. They added other documents, such as the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence, when the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the displays and won.

Now, advocates on both sides of the issue have drawn a line in the sand. Both are eager for a victory in America's highest court.

On one side are people like Judge-Executive Jimmie Greene of McCreary County, Ky., who was ordered to remove a display in the hallway of the county courthouse. He refused.

"I am a law-abiding citizen, but there is a higher power," Greene told the Associated Press. "I just could not remove that sacred document. Could you think of a better reason to go to jail than standing up in defense of the Ten Commandments?"

On the other side are people like the Rev. Barry W. Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who feels the court should block all government displays of religious documents.

"It's clear that the Ten Commandments is a religious document," he said. "Its display is appropriate in houses of worship but not at the seat of government."

As always, it is difficult to predict which way the Supreme Court will decide.

In June, the court sidestepped a ruling on the constitutionality of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

But the court's three most conservative members have made it clear that they do not think the monuments violate the separation of church and state.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas complained in 2001 when the court refused to rule on the constitutionality of a display in front of an Indiana municipal building. They said the city of Elkhart sought only to reflect the cultural, historical and legal significance of the Ten Commandments.

Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the court's most liberal, disagreed. He wrote that the words, "I am the Lord thy God" in the first line of the monument's description were "rather hard to square with the proposition that the monument expresses no particular religious preference."

With disagreement on the court mirroring disagreement in the country, the case is sure to draw intense scrutiny.

One of the lawyers involved in the Texas case said, "This is an issue that touches deep chords on both sides."

The monument in Polk County's administration building has faced little controversy. Yet.

The $150,000 granite structure was paid for with private donations and approved unanimously by the County Commission. The local chapter of the ACLU has yet to challenge its constitutionality.

The monument was dedicated to victims of the 9/11 attacks and drew private donors such as Wal-Mart, Publix and a local member of Congress.

On Monday, three floors above where the monument sits, one of its biggest advocates said he hopes the Supreme Court doesn't give in to what he sees as a knee-jerk reaction to displays of the Ten Commandments.

"It's not meant to offend. It's a historical document," said Randy Wilkinson, a Republican county commissioner.

Lynne Breidenbach, president of a local media group and a member of the committee that created the monument, echoed that sentiment.

"It would be intellectually dishonest to say the Ten Commandments don't have a place in our history," she said. "People seem to be so offended these days. I think it's extremely overdone."

For now, that will be up to the Supreme Court to decide. Advocates and opponent across the country will have to wait. And hope.

"Our (monument)," Wilkinson said, "hopefully is Supreme Court proof."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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