Arkansas lawmakers have passed a proposal to place a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state capitol and Governor Asa Hutchinson is expected to sign the bill.
As we previously reported, State Senator Jason Rapert proposed the moument, which will be funded by private citizens. The senator referenced other monuments in Texas and Oklahoma, which courts have found as Constitutional.
“The Secretary of State shall permit and arrange for the placement on the State Capitol grounds of a suitable monument commemorating the Ten Commandments,” SB 939 reads in part. “The Secretary of State shall arrange for the monument to be designed, constructed, and placed on the State Capitol grounds by private entities at no expense to the State of Arkansas.”
“The placement of the monument under this section shall not be construed to mean that the State of Arkansas favors any particular religion or denomination over others,” it continues.
The bill passed the Arkansas House 72-7 on Wednesday.
“The 10 Commandments monument is a visible reminder intended to keep us focused outside of ourselves, just as the founders looked outside of themselves for guidance,” Rep. Kim Hammer said, according to the Arkansas News.
If some Arkansas legislators have their way, a monument to the Ten Commandments will be placed on the grounds of the state capitol building.
The Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the proposal of Senator Jason Rapert and sent the matter to a full Senate vote.
“The Secretary of State shall permit and arrange for the placement on the State Capitol grounds of a suitable monument commemorating the Ten Commandments,” SB939 reads in part. “The Secretary of State shall arrange for the monument to be designed, constructed, and placed on the State Capitol grounds by private entities at no expense to the State of Arkansas.”
“The placement of the monument under this section shall not be construed to mean that the State of Arkansas favors any particular religion or denomination over others,” it continues.
Senator Rapert says the monument will be modeled after those in Oklahoma and Texas that have been declared Constitutional by the courts.
“I think as part of our state capitol, it would make a nice addition and give a nice honor to the fact that this is a part of the foundation of American jurisprudence,” Rapert stated. “We have room for many more, and we don’t have anything in particular that honored that aspect of the moral foundation of American law.”
An Ohio school board has voted not to place a plaque of the Ten Commandments that was donated by the class of 1956 back in the high school.
The plaque was removed after a complaint from a parent who kept their identity hidden.
The Marion City School Board voted to “indefinitely loan” the plaque to the Marion County Historical Society for display so that it won’t be placed inside the high school.
The removal sparked outrage in the community. Residents spoke up in favor of restoring the plaque within the school.
“It was a gift and it was a very nice gift, and I would like to see it stay,” 1956 graduate Bob McQuiston told those gathered, according to the Marion Star.
“I’m ashamed of Marion City Schools right now,” stated parent Sheri Cook.
“What’s so dangerous about the Ten Commandments?” resident Phillip Bates asked.
The board hid behind their legal counsel who said that they should not restore the plaque.
A federal judge in Oklahoma has dismissed a lawsuit brought by atheists against a Ten Commandments monument in the state capital.
The anti-Christian group American Atheists, based in New Jersey, filed suit on behalf of an anonymous woman who claimed about the installation of a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol building.
The State Capitol Preservation Commission argued that the woman had only seen the monument once and had traveled to the capitol solely for the purpose of being offended by the monument.
U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron ruled that the woman lacked standing to sue because she could not prove that she had suffered any personal injury from the display.
The monument has faced suits in the past. The ACLU sued in August 2013 claiming the presence of the display was unconstitutional.
A group of atheists aimed to mock the Christian Ten Commandments with a list of their own “for the modern age.”
Anti-Christianists Lex Bayer and John Figdor launched the contest last month to “open up for discussion what gives life meaning when secular culture is on the rise.” The contest received over 2800 submissions from 18 countries.
Some of the “winning” submissions for their mock list included “God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life” and “There is no one right way to live.”
Judges for the action included Adam Savage of the Discovery Channel show “Mythbusters.” Each one of the ten “winners” was given $1,000 for their “commandment.”
The two atheists that headed up the mockery said that they want to demonstrate you don’t have to be Christian to be moral.
A series of social studies textbooks are coming under fire because they make positive references to Christianity and mention Moses and the Ten Commandments.
The Texas Board of Education is voting on the textbooks that state the Ten Commandments were an influence on the founding of the nation and the laws of the country.
The textbooks also contain factual information such as terrorism being linked to Islam and challenges to climate change claims.
“These textbooks were teaching pretty much the opposite of the truth,” Emile Lester, a reviewer from the University of Mary Washington, stated. “You would hope publishers felt their main allegiance be to the education of students, but it was quite obvious that their main goal was to appease members of the State Board of Educators.”
However, supporters of the textbook say the anti-Christian people attempting to stop the books are allowing their hatred of people of faith to influence the truth of the nation’s history.
“[L]et us not forget the religious character of our origin,” American statesman Daniel Webster declared during his famous “Plymouth Oration” in 1820. “Our fathers were brought hither for their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political or literary,” said David Bradley of the State Board of Educators.
An admitted Satanist drove his vehicle into the Ten Commandments monument outside the Oklahoma state house, breaking it into pieces.
Michael Reed, Jr., says that Satan told him to destroy the monument and then urinate on it.
Reed destroyed the monument on Thursday and then walked into the Oklahoma City Federal Building on Friday stating that he was going to kill President Obama. He was taken into custody by the Secret Service for the threats.
Reed reportedly was placed into a mental hospital and is being indefinitely detained.
The ACLU, which had been actively trying to remove the monument, issued a condemnation of the action while still attacking Christians and those who support the monument.
“The ACLU of Oklahoma and our clients are outraged at this apparent act of vandalism,” it stated. “Our Oklahoma and federal Constitutions seek to create a society in which people of all faiths and those of no faith at all can coexist as equals without fear of repressions from the government or their neighbors. Whether it is politicians using religion as a political tool or vandals desecrating religious symbols, neither are living up to the full promise of our founding documents.”
Several elected leaders, including Governor Mary Fallin, have said they will pay money from their own pockets to rebuild the monument.
An Oklahoma judge has ruled that a Ten Commandments monument is Constitutional.
The American Civil Liberties Union had filed suit against the monument claiming that it was an illegal endorsement of religion by the government. The ACLU said that the position of the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission that the monument was historical in nature was overridden by the religious message.
Judge Thomas Prince sided with the OCPC. He said that the monument served a historical purpose witting among 51 other expressive monuments on the Capitol grounds.
“Today’s ruling is a clear message that the Ten Commandments can be displayed on public grounds like the Oklahoma Capitol because of the historical role the text has played in the founding of our nation,” said Attorney General Scott Pruitt. “The U.S. Supreme Court found constitutional a nearly identical monument in Texas. We were confident in the state’s case from the start and appreciate the court’s thoughtful consideration and ruling in the state’s favor.”
The monument, proposed by Rep. Mike Ritze in 2009 and paid for completely by Ritze, had no taxpayer dollars involved in the creation or placement.
A Federal appeals court has ruled that a Ten Commandments display in North Dakota is not a violation of the Constitution.
A Ten Commandments monument was donated to the city of Fargo 50 years ago by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The monument was placed in the city’s Civic Plaza, which is a public space. An anti-Christian group has been fighting against the monument since 2002 in an attempt to eliminate Christianity from being seen in public places.
Fargo’s Board of City Commissioners had initially attempted to appease the anti-Christianists by moving the monument to private land but residents objected and petitioned the city to pass an ordinance that any monument on public land that had been in place for 40 or more years could not be moved.
When the anti-Christian group sued, a lower court said that the monument presented no Constitutional violation because it showed the impact of religion on the nation’s history. The appeals court upheld that ruling on a 2-1 decision.
“Like the Ten Commandments monument at issue in Van Orden, the Plattsmouth monument makes passive—and permissible—use of the text of the Ten Commandments to acknowledge the role of religion in our nation’s heritage,” the court ruled referring to other cases where the Ten Commandments have been allowed in public spaces.
A federal judge has ordered the city of Bloomfield, New Mexico to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from city property in response to a lawsuit from anti-Christianists.
U.S. District Judge James A. Parker issued a ruling that the 3,000 pound monument violated the First Amendment because its existence meant a government “establishment of religion.”
“In view of the circumstances surrounding the context, history, and purpose of the Ten Commandments monument, it is clear that the City of Bloomfield has violated the Establishment Clause because its conduct in authorizing the continued display of the monument on City property has had the primary or principal effect of endorsing religion,” he wrote in his ruling.
The monument was placed in 2011 after the city passed a resolution allowing private citizens the right to post historical displays at the Bloomfield City Hall.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city to make sure the reference to Judaism and Christianity was removed from public view.
“I am surprised and had never really considered the judge ruling against it because it’s a historical document just like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights,” Mayor Scott Eckstein said to the Farmington Daily Times. “The intent from the beginning was that the lawn was going to be used for historical purposes, and that’s what the council voted on.”
