Officials at a Minnesota courthouse have
removed a plaque featuring the Ten Commandments as the result of a letter
submitted by one of the most conspicuous atheist activist organizations, which
claimed that the display violated the U.S. Constitution.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF)
recently submitted a complaint to the administrator of Saint Louis County to
request that the plaque, displayed at the county courthouse in Hibbing, be taken
down.
The display, which was placed between two doors
that lead to the courts of law, read “God’s Laws” at the top and featured each
of the Ten Commandments. Underneath, it quoted from Jesus’ words in Mark
12:30-31, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength … You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.”
The plaque had been posted at the
courthouse for the past 60 years.
However, FFRF says that the display violates the
Establishment Clause to the U.S. Constitution, which states, “Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”
“Given
the placement of the plaque next to courtrooms, its ‘God’s Law’ inscription, its
inclusion of a New Testament passage, and its location within a county
courthouse, it is unconstitutional and cannot remain on county property,”
the group’s
letter, written by attorney Patrick Elliott, read.
“Ten Commandments displays within or
near courtrooms are especially concerning given the religious message they
impart. They affiliate the justice system with biblical prohibitions, rather
than our secular laws,” it continued. “They signal that the
court is not impartial.”
FFRF further asserted that the first
commandmandment also poses an issue because, it said, the government “has
no business” telling its inhabitants what God they should serve.
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