Proposed Law Could Finally Settle Ten Commandments Conflicts
by Bill Fancher
February 9, 2004
(AgapePress) - If one Atlanta legal organization has its way, it may not be very long before a new law requires the display of the Ten Commandments in many state buildings across the United States.The Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) has launched a new project that would mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in state buildings throughout the country. SLF spokesman Todd Young believes the state-by-state project, if successful, will end the problems that have plagued religious freedom advocates and sparked "separation of Church and State" debates all over the U.S.
The SLF is hoping the project will result in the enactment of laws that will keep groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State from overriding the will of the people regarding the state's display of historical documents that acknowledge the biblically-based moral foundation of American law.
"You have all of these local governments, based on public support, placing these documents in public view and then immediately being drawn into a lengthy and expensive court battle with the ACLU and others," Young says.
According to the Foundation spokesman, the law will be crafted individually in each state and will require the display of historically important documents, including the Ten Commandments. "What we're proposing is that, state by state, we adopt state law mandating the placement of these documents in a way that we believe will survive court challenge," he says.
The SLF's project has already begun in the Foundation's home state of Georgia, and negotiations are under way in other states as well. Young says the effort will free local governments from the necessity of fighting a multitude of lawsuits resulting from attempts to carry out the wishes of the majority of local citizens, and merges the legal challenges for a single confrontation at the state level.
"Knowing that the ACLU and their allies are coming, what we do is consolidate those challenges into the Attorney General of each state so that we have a battle royal, once and for all. We believe we're on very strong legal ground here, based on our research," Young says.
