LONDON, Ky. – The state whose 1978 law mandating Ten Commandments classroom displays was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court is increasingly the scene of a renewed legal battle over the historic document.
No hearing dates are set, but filings are proceeding in three separate lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in U.S. District Court. The suits challenge public displays of the Ten Commandments in the McCreary and Pulaski county courthouses and Harlan County schools.
Just to the north, a southern Indiana school board is facing the threat of an ACLU suit over student guidelines it adopted as an alternative to a Ten Commandments display. The Scott County, Ind., guidelines were to be posted when classes resumed Jan. 3, but the move has been postponed. Officials plan to meet with a representative from the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which has agreed to defend the school board.
Responding to a complaint from a citizen in Scottsburg, Ind., the ACLU had sent a letter threatening a lawsuit to prevent the school board’s 11 “precepts” from being posted. It objected to the rules as paralleling the Ten Commandments, said Scott County Superintendent Robert Hooker.
Despite argument in the two states over the Ten Commandments, the attorney representing three southeastern Kentucky counties argues that the Lord’s influence in the nation’s founding is clearly a part of history.
“I’m not trying to make new law,” said Ronald Ray of Crestwood, Ky. “I’m just trying to tell the truth. I love this country, and I hate the fact that they lie about the founding fathers and say they were all deists. It’s not true.”
Share with others: