I was watching an old repeat of the West Wing the other day, from back when the show was good. And I couldn’t help but think of it when I saw this news item:
A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that putting framed copies of the Ten Commandments in county courthouses violated church-state separation, but it allowed a commandments monument in a larger display on a state Capitol grounds.
The two 5-4 rulings on the politically charged issue of displaying the Ten Commandments on government property came in a pair of cases regarded as the most important of the court term concerning constitutional separation of church and state.
Display issues aside, I can’t help but wonder what the Ten Commandments are even doing in a courthouse in the first place. To quote the West Wing episode:
Sam: There is a town in Alabama that wants to abolish all laws except the Ten Commandments.
Tobey: That’s odd.
Sam: Well they’re going to have a problem.
Tobey: Because the Constitution prohibits religious activity in any form connected to government?
[ . . . ]
Sam: I just mean, some of those Commandments are pretty hard to enforce […] Coveting thy neighbor’s wife, for example. How are you going to enforce that one?
Yeah, I’m not sure how a court of law would prove coveting. Do you get witnesses to comment on longing glances?
They’d better drop the ol’ swearing on the Bible shtick at ALL formal Gov’t. functions as well then, eh? I can’t wait till they tell the Pres. that he’s not legit because the swearing in was unconstitutional…heheheh
There’s an issue of culture and history involved here. Given that, I can see why they’re displayed. They represent a society’s history.