|
Ten Commandments Monument on Texas State Capitol Grounds is Constitutional
November
13, 2003
Mathew D. Staver
Austin,
Texas
– The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
issued an opinion holding that a
stand-alone Ten Commandments monument
on the Texas State Capitol grounds in
Austin, Texas, is constitutional.
Liberty Counsel, a civil liberties
education and legal defense
organization with an extensive amount
of experience in the constitutionality
of the public display of the Ten
Commandments, filed an Amicus Brief in
support of the state of Texas. The
Fifth Circuit covers the states of
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The
42 year-old monument was originally
donated to the State by the Fraternal
Order of Eagles in 1961. The granite
monolith is more than six feet high
and three feet wide. It is one of 17
monuments and memorials on the grounds
of the State Capitol. The donation of
the Ten Commandments was part of a
youth guidance project to give the
youth of the nation a code of conduct
by which to govern their actions. The
monument sat in a small park-like
subsection between the Supreme Court
building and the Capitol building.
Thomas Van Orden filed the suit to
have the monument removed because he
claimed the sight of the Ten
Commandments disturbed him. The Court
began by noting that “The Ten
Commandments have both a religious and
secular message.” Given that
message, the Court held that the State
of Texas had a secular purpose for
displaying the monument. The Court
noted that, “Even those who would
see the Decalogue as wise counsel born
of man’s experience rather than as
divinely inspired religious teaching
cannot deny its influence upon the
civil and criminal laws of this
country. That extraordinary influence
has been repeatedly acknowledged by
the Supreme Court and detailed by
scholars. Equally so is its influence
upon ethics and the ideal of a just
society.” The Court concluded its
opinion by noting the Ten Commandments
influence on American law and stating,
“There is no constitutional right to
be free of government endorsement of
its own laws.”
Mathew
Staver, President and General Counsel
of Liberty Counsel, stated, “This
decision begins to turn the tide
against the historical revisionism of
groups like the ACLU who seek to
remove all references to the Ten
Commandments from our public life.”
Staver added, “We are excited that
the Court issued such a ringing
endorsement of the Ten Commandments
and their effect on our laws. This
opinion energizes us to take our fight
to preserve our history, including the
Ten Commandments, to the highest
levels.” Staver concluded “The Ten
Commandments have both a secular and
religious aspect. To ignore the
influence of the Ten Commandments in
the founding and shaping of American
law and government would require
significant historical revisionism.”
Liberty Counsel is currently defending
10 separate Ten Commandment displays
throughout the country. In the past 14
months, two federal courts of appeals
and three federal district courts have
found such displays to be
constitutional.
Read
the
Amicus Brief we filed in this
case. (You will need the free
Adobe Reader program to open and
read this pdf file).
More
news about this case:
Houston
Chronicle
Express
News
Restoring
the culture one case at a time by
advancing religious freedom,
the sanctity of human life and the
traditional family
Mathew D. Staver, Esq.
Liberty Counsel
http://www.lc.org.
An Ally of the Alliance Defense Fund
|
