Judge Allows Ten Commandments Monument To Remain On Public School Grounds

A District Judge in Pennsylvania allows a Ten Commandments monument to remain on public school grounds because the plaintiffs in the case could not prove they were harmed enough.

A monument of the Ten Commandments will be allowed to stay in front of Valley Junior-Senior High School in New Kensington, Pennsylvania after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of separation of church and state.

According to TribLive, the Fraternal Order of Eagles donated the large stone Ten Commandments tablet in response to the release of the movie, “The Ten Commandments” back in the late 1950s. Because of this, the school district argued that the religious monument had a historic and secular purpose. Marie Schaub and her daughter, along with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, claimed the monument’s presence on public school grounds amounted to government endorsement of a particular religion, thus violating the Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion.

Schaub testified that she eventually pulled her daughter from the New Kensington-Arnold School District to avoid contact with the monument, but U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry wouldn’t take that into consideration because her daughter left the school after the lawsuit was filed. The judge also decided that the plaintiffs had not proven they were harmed enough by the monument to have standing in the case because, according to Schaub’s testimony, she could only recount two or three times when she had seen the monument.

“Plaintiffs Schaub and (her unidentified daughter) … have failed to establish that they were forced to come into ‘direct, regular, and unwelcome contact with the’ Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of Valley High School,” McVerry wrote in his opinion.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State explain that the judge focused on the wrong facts.

“While it is fair to say that many are offended by a Ten Commandments display on government property, that is not the main legal issue. The reality is this Decalogue is unconstitutional because it gives the impression that government is endorsing belief over non-belief. Whether or not anyone is offended by the specific display is secondary.”

The plaintiffs, represented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, are currently considering an appeal.

In a similar case last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision Monday that a Ten Commandments monument on the state Capitol grounds was unconstitutional and must be removed.

 

Image by Freedom From Religion Foundation via Facebook