Ten up

It's been a roller coaster ride for the Giles County schools' copies of the Ten Commandments. After the Biblical texts were removed from schools in December, put up in January, and removed again in February ('Ten Down,' 2/24), the school board voted Tuesday to post them in schools again.

Giles County School Board members voted 3-2 to place the Biblical texts in schools as part of displays that include several other historical documents such as the Constitution. It's unclear when they will be reposted.

ACLU legal director Kent Willis said Tuesday that based on his understanding of the decision, reposting the documents would violate the Constitution's separation of church and state. He says the ACLU will move forward with plans to litigate.

The 4-foot-tall display of the Ten Commandments had been displayed for at least a decade next to framed copies of the U.S. Constitution. The commandments were posted after the Columbine High School shooting.

In a letter to the school board, the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation cited ACLU of Ohio v. Ashbrook, which states that when the Ten Commandments are posted next to the U.S. Constitution, a reasonable observer "will understand that the [government actor] promotes that one religious code as being on par with our nation's most cherished secular symbols and documents."

"The Giles County School Board cannot hide the religious purpose behind this display simply by arranging other documents around the Ten Commandments," the letter stated.

The Liberty Counsel has volunteered to defend the school board in court if litigation erupts. Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, said the organization has successfully defended Ten Commandments displays against the same ACLU argument in three separate cases that went to Kentucky and Indiana appeals courts.

"The courts have rejected that argument," Staver said. "If you go to the United States Supreme Courtroom, the most frequent display in that court is the Ten Commandments; it's been displayed more than 50 times, and in fact it's the only symbol in the seal of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the court that governs the entire western part of the United States."

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told WSLS 10 that he reluctantly agreed the ACLU had a case. "I tend to side more with the school board at least in spirit, but I know the law and we don't get to change that," Cuccinelli said. "The Supreme Court has told us the limits of the First Amendment and that is what they are quarantined by."

He told the news channel that he hopes both parties can settle their differences without litigation.

Staver said he disagrees with Cuccinelli. The Ten Commandments are "part of our history and heritage," he said. "Many of our laws and policies and even our vernacular have been shaped by the Ten Commandments. To ignore that as part of our history is to ignore a significant part of the development of law in America."

The displays have received overwhelming support from the community. In March, 200 students at Giles County High School walked out of classes in protest of the commandments' removal. Over 100 citizens showed up at the May 19 board meeting with signs and t-shirts displaying the commandments. According to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, when citizens were allowed to testify before the board's decision, Giles County resident Sammy Marshall and others offered to provide finances if a legal battle resulted from the board's decision.

"We not only have support for this in Giles County but the support of Christians across Southwest Virginia," Marshall told the Telegraph. "We will fight this. God will prevail. This is not over by a long shot. We will not stop until the Ten Commandments are in every school in this country."

The commandments came down in December on the advice of the board's attorney after a parent complained. The documents were put back up, then removed for the second time in February.

Christian students in neighboring Floyd County started putting up copies of the commandments on their lockers in protest.

Afraid of legal action, the Floyd County School Board removed the religious displays. However, this time, even the ACLU sided with the students, and Floyd County schools were forced to allow student displays. ('Too careful?' 2/26)

According to The Virginian-Pilot, the Giles County display also includes the Mayflower Compact, Virginia Declaration of Rights, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, sheet music for "The Star-Spangled Banner," and a picture of blindfolded Lady Justice, weighing the truth in her scales.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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