The Supreme Court’s Ten Commandments
On Monday, the Supreme Court will issue their decision on whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed in county courthouses without violating the First Amendment, specifically that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Given the horridness of this Term, I wager that the Court will rule that having the Ten Commandments within a courthouse violates the First Amendment. I hope not. The Supreme Court has a painting of Moses and the Ten Commandments and begins each day’s session with “God Save This Honorable Court” ringing in their ears. Would they then remove the painting?
There is no doubt that the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State desire to remove any inkling of religion out of our schools and places of government. Will the Supreme Court fall for this ruse? It’s anyone’s guess.
Ultimately, the religiosity of our Nation will depend on the piety of its citizens. However, if the Supremes (5 of them) decide to remove the Ten Commandments, the effect will undermine the protections embodied in the First Amendment and represent a travesty for our Country and another step toward a Nation full of Christians but ruled by an Atheistic government. The intent of the Establishment Clause was not to remove any religious artifact or symbol from the pedestals of government, rather it was, among other things, to prevent the subsidization of a specific religion (e.g., Methodists, Presbyterian, etc.) via federal not state taxation. The Ten Commandments are one of the foundational documents of our society and represent many of the social mores the Framers and others have codified into our Constitutions. The removal of the Ten Commandments would be terrible. I hope the Supremes give more credence to George Washington then the homeless atheist who says his feelings are hurt when he sees the Ten Commandments.