Judge Rejects Posting of Commandments
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A South Carolina judge has ruled that the posting of the Ten Commandments by the Charleston County Council violates the U.S. Constitution and must come down.
“Government may not affiliate itself with religious symbols or doctrines in a manner that suggests an endorsement of a particular religious faith,” Circuit Court Judge R. Markley Dennis Jr. said in an opinion released this week. “Though religion may be acknowledged and accommodated by the state, it may not be promoted.”
The ruling came in a suit filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina.
In arguments last week, county attorney Arthur Rosenblum contended that the Ten Commandments are posted in an “obscure” location so as to not offend minority faiths. But Steven Green of Americans United argued that any display of one religion’s sacred text by a government body violates the separation of church and state.
The judge said his decision was based on a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that barred the Ten Commandments from being posted in public schools in Kentucky.
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