Judge Agrees: Move Commandments to Private Land

Back in the 1950s, E.J. Ruegemer helped lead the way for the creation of Ten Commandments monuments that were placed in front of county courthouses and in public parks all over America. What does he think of the legal cases and political debates over them today? Apparently, he feels that it is better to just move the monuments to private property.

The Idaho Statesman reports:

Ruegemer respects the rule of law. He said Boise's plan to move the monument from city property to a churchyard across from the Capitol is a good result. “That's OK,” Ruegemer said, pleased that the monument will be more prominent. He is critical of former Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore, who lost his job for defying a higher court's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument. “His heart was in the right place, but his thoughts were not,” Ruegemer told me. “You obey the law.”

But opponents of the move, led by Pastor Bryan Fischer and Brandi Swindell of Keep the Commandments Coalition, haven't given up. “The issue is whether the word of God will continue to be displayed in the public square in Boise, Idaho,” Fischer said. “It belongs on public property.”

Ironically, Fischer makes the legal case against keeping the monument on government ground. Courts have allowed monuments to remain only when they have a non-religious purpose. Protesters organized by Fischer and Swindell have been praying and kneeling at the monument for weeks. They plan one last dramatic proof of its religious purpose. Swindell is one of 50 people who have signed up to risk arrest when the monument moves. “We'd be kneeling around the monument, in an organized fashion, praying, singing worship songs, that type of thing,” Swindell said. “And then the police would go through the arrest process. There wouldn't be any dragging or anything of that nature.”

I wonder - if someone replaced the Ten Commandments monument with a large golden calf, would people like Fisher and Swindell notice? I doubt it - they'd probably just keep on going as usual, praying and swaying before their little idol and pretending that the government should play some role in promoting their religious beliefs to other citizens.

Read More:

• Secularism 101
• Separation of Church and State 101
• Ten Commandments