Background
William A. Books and Michael Suetkamp objected to a monument on the lawn of the City of Elkhart’s Municipal Building inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The monument was erected in 1958 through a donation by the Fraternal Order of Eagles and through the efforts of judge E.J. Ruegemer who was concerned that failing to adhere to the Ten Commandments was contributing to juvenile delinquency. At the dedication ceremony, it was stated that if Americans accepted the Ten Commandments, they would receive “redemption from today’s strife and fear.”
The text of the monument, an amalgamation of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant versions of the Ten Commandments, read:
- the Ten Commandments
I AM the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.
The monument also contained images of two small tablets with Hebrew script, two Stars of David, and two superimposed Greek letters, Chi and Rho, symbolizing Jesus Christ.
A district court ruled that the monument did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, arguing that it had a secular purpose both in promoting morality in youths and in promoting the significance of the Ten Commandments. The court also ruled that the monument did not have the effect of promoting or endorsing religion in any fashion.
