The controversy regarding the posting of the Ten Command-ments began in Kentucky when the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1980 case of Stone v. Graham ruled that the Ten Commandments posted on a classroom bulletin board were unconstitutional. The court ruled that students may be induced to venerate and possibly obey the dictates of the Ten Commandments. In the majority opinion, that was ruled unconstitutional.
Since 1980, many things have changed. The Supreme Court has backed away from some of its "separation of church and state" arguments that developed in the 1960s. Chief Justice Rehnquist has stated that the often misused "separation of church and state" phrase is an inaccurate representation of American history and should be utterly and frankly abandoned. Additionally, since 1980, conservative Christians have entered the judicial arena from which they were noticeably absent in the 1960s and 1970s. Groups like Liberty Counsel have made great strides in restoring and regaining some of the liberties that we lost through judicial activism.
Three cases involving a historical display that contains the Ten Commandments have arisen again in Kentucky. These cases are poised to go to the U.S. Supreme Court and may ultimately erase the Supreme Court decision rendered in 1980.
Liberty Counsel represents Pulaski County Judge Darrell Beshears, McCreary County Judge Jimmie Green and the Harlan County School Board in a suit brought by the Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) seeking to remove three historical displays that contain the Ten Commandments.
Judges Beshears and Green have the historical displays posted in their courthouses, and the Harlan County School Board has the historical display posted in
the district schools. The historical display contains nine documents, which include the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Command-ments, the Magna Charta, the Star Spangled Banner, the U.S. national motto, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution and a picture of Lady Justice.
The ACLU has filed a lawsuit requesting the court to remove these historical displays and has asked that these judges be held in contempt of court for simply posting these historical displays.
The Kentucky Ten Commandments case has received a shot in the arm by a recent federal court ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which governs several states including Ohio and Kentucky. The federal court of appeals ruled in a 9-4 decision that the Ohio state motto, "With God All Things Are Possible," is constitutional.
The federal court ruled that the question of public acknowledgment of religion is an easy question to answer when viewed against the historical background of the First Amendment. The court ruled that the original intent of the First Amendment was to prohibit a national establishment of religion; it was not meant to prohibit public acknowledgments of religion. The court ruled that the Ohio state motto, which comes from Jesus in the book of Matthew, is similar to the national motto. The state motto does not coerce belief and does not force anyone to support a particular denomination.
The Kentucky case will proceed through the appeals channel up through the same federal appeals court that decided the Ohio state motto. From there, the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In addition to the significant development at the federal appeals court level, the Kentucky cases present unique circumstances. Liberty Counsel requested two national experts to submit affidavits in response to the ACLU suit. ACLU filed a brief stating that the Ten Commandments
had nothing to do with the development of American law. David Barton prepared an affidavit for the case that contains an extensive review of American history regarding the Ten Commandments and how they have influenced Ameri-can law. His 36-page affidavit, containing 166 footnotes, is full of information that details how each of the Ten Commandments has, at one time or another, been adopted as law in this country.
Barton points out that Noah Webster stated: "The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tablets; one comprehending the duties that we owe immediately to God; the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men." Barton's affidavit painstakingly shows how each of the Ten Commandments has influenced the development of American law.
Justice Joseph Story, appointed to the Supreme Court by President James Madison, once declared, "One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. ... There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as laying at its foundations."
The first proposed seal of the United States, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, contained imagery from the Exodus. Former U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger stated, "The very chamber in which oral arguments on [the Ten Commandments case] were heard is decorated with a notable and permanent Ð not seasonal Ð symbol of religion: Moses with the Ten Commandments."
In addition to extensive research by Barton, Liberty Counsel has filed a 119-page affidavit by Bill Federer containing almost 500 footnotes. These documents by Barton and Federer contain undeniable evidence that the development of American law is inseparable from the Ten Commandments.
It is ludicrous and downright unconstitutional to exclude displays of the Ten Commandments. The founding fathers never envisioned that the Ten Commandments, which have formed and shaped American law, would somehow be considered unconstitutional by the very amendment in which they drafted to protect religious freedom.