THE TEN COMMANDMENTS A SEQUEL.

by Rob Boston

How A Publicity Stunt By Hollywood Producer Cecil B. DeMille Wound

Up At The Supreme Court --And What Happened When It Did

According to the Book of Exodus, God handed down the Ten

Commandments to Moses in a most dramatic fashion.

In the biblical account, lightning flashed in the sky and thunder

boomed around Mt. Sinai. The entire mountain shook, and a horn
blared out. The people trembled as Moses approached and ascended
the cloud-covered summit. He emerged, after a personal encounter
with God, carrying two stone tablets on which were engraved the Ten
Commandments.

In light of this story, the religious nature of the Decalogue would seem
to be beyond question. The list of commands itself bears this out: At
least four of the decrees deai with specific matters of faith,
admonishing believers to spurn false gods, reject graven images, avoid
blasphemous speech and keep the Sabbath holy.

But to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, the Ten Commandments

don't necessarily have to be religious. According to Rehnquist, they are
also a document that has played a "foundational role ... in secular,
legal matters" that can be featured in a city's "celebration of its
culturai and historical roots" without becoming "a promotion of
religious faith."

Rehnquist's comments were made public May 29, when the Supreme
Court issued an order stating that it wouid not hear an appeal of a "
lower court ruling striking down the government's display of a granite
Ten Commandments monument in Elkhart, Ind. Rehnquist dissented
from that action, and joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin
Scalia, made it clear that he believes the court should have overturned
the ruling, clearing the way for government at all levels to display the
Ten Commandments.

Justice John Paul Stevens, an advocate for church-state separation,

found the trio's reasoning convoluted. He noted that the monument in
Elkhart contains two lines in large type that read, "THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS -- I AM the LORD thy GOD." Observed Stevens, "The
graphic emphasis placed on those first lines is rather hard to square
 with the proposition that the monument expresses no particular
religious preference." After all, he continued, "the monument also
depicts two Stars of David and a symbol composed of the Greek letters
Chi and Rho superimposed on each other that represent Christ."
A few years ago, a handful of Religious Right organizations announced
campaigns to get the Ten Commandments posted in government
buildings and public schools all over the United States. The Supreme
Court's decision not to hear the City of Elkhart v. Books case should
help bring those efforts to a halt.
But it won't happen without a fight. Religious Right organizations were
infuriated when the high court took a pass on the Indiana case and
have vowed to find other ways to bring the matter before the justices.
And they may have the chance -- at least 12 cases dealing with Ten
Commandments displays are pending in seven states. (See
"Commandments Controversies," page 13.) Meanwhile, in Elkhart, 6ft
officials are toying with open defiance.
4- ~ .,
Ironically, the pwnument that has sparked so much fuss was until a
few. years ago covered with weeds and vines. Many town residents
• , didn't even know it was there until a groundskeeper cleaned it off one
day in 1998.
The monument had found a home in front of the Elkhart City Hall four
decades earlier as a ti~or a P£lll11otional campaign for a movie --
Hollywood producer Cecil B. DeMille's biblical extravaganza "The Ten
,--.-..
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-
Commandments."
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DeMille's involve men of a nalliJnwide campaign first
launched in 1943 b EJ. Rue eme a Minnesota juvenile court judge
an ead of a Fraternal' !":""o a~s (FOE) committee dealing with
the problems of youth. Ruegemer claimed that many of the young
people who ended up in his courtroom lacked a moral foundation, and
he proposed posting paper copies of the Ten Commandments in
juvenile courts to rectify that.
DeMille got wind of Ruegemer's project as he was working on his epic
film, which starred Charlton Heston as Moses. DeMille, eager to drum
up publicity for the 1956 mUl(ie, proposed displaying bronze tablets
instead of paper copies, but Ruegemer felt that granite markers would
be more appropriate, arguing that the original Ten Commandments
were probably made of stone. DeMille agreed and authorized
Ruegemer to contract with a Minnesota granite firm to begin
production. Eagles units soon began donating them to cities around
the country.
DeMille carefully exploited the situation to ensure maximum publicity
for his movie, and some of the monument dedications were even
timed to tie in with the release of the film. In one town, Dunseith,
N.D., actor Heston appeared personally for the ceremony. In
Milwaukee, a Ten Commandments monument was unveiled the same
week the film debuted, with actor Yul Brynner n Pharaoh in the movie
-- on hand for the festivities.
Ruegemer, 98 and still living in Minnesota, told the South Bend
Tribune in May that the Eagles were at first wary of taking on the
project, fearing that it might be perceived as sectarian. To get around
that, organizational ieaders asked Catholic, Protestant and Jewish
representatives to come together and decide on how to word and list
the commandments in a way that was agreeable to all. (Roman
Catholics, Protestants and Jews use different versions of the Ten
Commandments. For example, in the Catholic version, the fourth
commandment is "Honor your mother and father." In the Protestant
and Jewish versions, it is "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. ")
Thanks to the DeMille-Eagles partnership, more than 2,000 Ten
Commandments monuments were donated to communities around the
country. The FOE kept the project going long after the film opened,
and some monuments did not get erected until 10 years later.
Elkhart's monument was dedicated on Memorial Day of 1958, when
local Protestant, Jewish and Catholic clergy in Elkhart, joined by FOE
officers and city officials, unveiled it at a public ceremony.
Four decades passed. In 1998, when the monument was rediscovered,
it immediately became a focus of controversy and the target of a
lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. A federal district court
ruled against the ACLU, but the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals took
the opposite tack.
In its Dec. 13, 2000, decision, the appellate panel insisted that
government display of the religious text violates the constitutional
separation of church and state, suggesting that some faith traditions
are officially favored.
Court precedents "simply prevent government at any level from
intruding into the religious life of our people by sponsoring or
endorsing a particular perspective on religious matters," observed the
 2-1 majority. "It prevents, as Justice O'Connor has pointed out,
government from creating among our people' ins' and' outs' on the
basis of religion."
Monument defenders, disappointed with the appeals court's decision,
urged the Supreme Court to take the case. But the court said no n Falwell, in his Falwell Confidential bulletin, asserted that "people of
over the strong objections of Scalia, Thomas and Rehnquist. (Four
members of the high court must agree to take a case in order to get
the dispute on the docket.)
Why ali the sudden interest in the Ten Commandments? Much of the
activity stems from the Religious Right. At ieast four organizations
have been active in this area recently n Liberty Counsei, lV preacher
Pat Robertson's American Center For Law and Justice (ACU), the
National Clergy Council and the Family Research Council (FRC).
Many of these organizations are still smarting from the Supreme -
Court's 1980 Stone v. Graham ruling. In Stone, the high court struck
down a Kentucky law req);!iriLlgcthe posting of the Ten Commandments
in all public sc.hOj?ls. Religious Right groups may see the current
crusade 'as a w'i,y" to spark a new challenge to that holding and build
pu6lic support for their other politicai objectives ..
(.
The groups are also angry over more recent decisions by lower courts
striking down government display of the Ten Commandments. In 1994
the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered officials in Cobb County,
Ga., to remove a Ten Commandments display from the courthouse. In
addition, Americans United has won legal cases against government
display of the Ten Commandments in Charleston, S.c., and Manhattan,
Kan.
Undaunted by the string of legal defeats, FRC, a group loosely
affiliated with radio counselor James C. Dobson's Focus on the Family,
launched a special Ten Commandments project In November of 1999.
Called "Hang Ten," the effort was designed to encourage state and
local governments to post the Decalogue at government buildings and
public schools as well as win passage of the "Ten Commandments
Defense Act," legislation sponsored by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)
that would have stripped the federal courts of their ability to even hear
legal cases challenging government-sponsored Ten Commandments
displays.
FRC announced the "Hang Ten" campaign with much fanfare, but the
project hasn't achieved much so far. Aderholt's bill has never come to
a vote in the House, and the crusade is going nowhere in the courts.
Nevertheless, Religious Right leaders have vowed to keep fighting. On
the day the Supreme Court refused the Elkhart case, several released
statements blasting the court action.
faith across the nation were disheartened" by the action. The
Lynchburg televangelist went on to claim that "activist judges are
deliberately ignoring the actuality of America's founding -- an actuality
of dependence on the Bible and Judeo-Christian values."
The day after the high court rejected the case, ACU founder Robertson
ranted about the justices' action on his "700 Club" program. The
Virginia Beach teievangelist called the action "the craziest thing" and
wasted no time launching an attack on church-state separation.
Asserted Robertson, "There's nothing in the Constitution that ever
intended this, nor n and this is very important n the phrase
'separation of church and state' does not appear in the United States
Constitution. It was in the Constitution of the former Soviet Union, but
not in the U.S. Constitution."
Robertson insisted that Congress should stand up to "the power of the
black-robed justices." Congress, he said, "can take away their money.
They can also take away their appellate jurisdiction if they so choose,
because the Constitution gives that power."
The ACU, which heiped defend the city of Elkhart and has worked on
other Ten Commandments cases, issued a bland statement expressing
disappointment. Earlier, however, the organization had bitterly
criticized groups like Americans United for opposing such displays. In a
shrill fund-raising letter mailed in March, ACU Chief Counsel Jay
Sekulow asserted that court action against government display of the
Ten Commandments could put the country on a ". slippery slope'
toward moral ruin."
Religious Right legal groups have prodded local officials to continue
fighting for the commandments, despite the prevailing legal trend.
Even in Elkhart, resistance remains. Local officials have pledged to find
a way to keep the Ten Commandments monument in piace. Mayor
David Miller, a 44-year-old graphic artist who has led the campaign to
defend the marker, told reporters, "I will fight to keep the monument
standing right where it is."
 During the legal battle, Miller went so far as to design promonument
bumper stickers and led a petition drive to keep the commandments
up. With his final legal appeal exhausted, Miller has proposed adding
other types of historical documents and markers around the
monument, which he argues will make the display constitutional.
Attorneys at the Indiana branch of the ACLU disagree and have
proposed moving the monument to private property. U.S. District
Judge Allen Sharp has been given the task of finding a solution. Sharp
has been directed by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to ensure that
"although the condition that offends the Constitution is eliminated,
Elkhart retains the authority to make decisions regarding the
placement of the monument." (One suggestion involves selling the
monument and the land around it to a private group.)
An Internet poll sponsored by the Elkhart Truth newspaper found that
71 percent of respondents favored leaving the Ten Commandments
where it is. Although such:polls..are not scientifically valid, city leaders
insist that the ~rwhe ming majority of residents oppose moving the
marker. . that portion of British common law that "was consistent with
"Like the residents of Elkhart, most Americans, polls show, favor the
idea of government promotion of the Ten Commandments. One
survey, conducted in July of 1999, found 74 percent endorsing the
idea of Ten Commandments displays in public schools. But those polls
also show Widespread ignorance about what the commandments say.
A few years ago, a Gallup poll found that only 42 percent of Americans
are able to name even five of the Ten Commandments.
Since most Americans don't know what the commandments say, it's
not surprising that many of them persist in believing that the
Decalogue is the basis for U.S. law. In Elkhart, for example, one
official asserted that the monument should stay because the
commandments, aside from their religious significance, have
influenced secular law.
"This has tons of historical significance," said John Mann, a spokesman
for Mayor Miller. "Let's say that hypothetically, Moses got the Ten
Commandments from aliens or just made them up or something. Still,
they are the basis for every modern legal system."
This claim, while frequently spouted by Religious Right activists, does
not stand up to historical scrutiny, say church-state experts.
Steven K. Green, legal director for Americans United, researched this
question in 1999-2000 for a scholarly article that appeared in the
Journal of Law & Religion (Vol. XIV, No.2). Green, who holds a Ph.D.
in religious and constitutional history, concluded that the claim that
U.s. law is based on the Ten Commandments is usually asserted and
accepted as a given without historical evidence. For example, Chief
Justice Rehnquist in his recent Elkhart dissent, referred to "the
foundational role of the Ten Commandments in secular, legal matters."
But he cited no precedent or scholarly authority for that view.
Green notes that American law is an outgrowth of British common law
and "more generally, the Western legal tradition." Claims that the
common law was based on the Bible, he says, were first put forth by
scholar monks in the Dark Ages, who were trying to defend the
- supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church over temporal governments.
The claim is shaky at best, Green writes, pointing out that the
common law "relied primarily on custom."
Green also discovered that America's Founding Fathers adopted only
republican ideals." He writes of the Founding period, "[I]t is not
surprising that express references to the Decalogue or scripture as a
source of law were nonexistent."
Even a cursory reading of the Constitution debunks the claim that U.S.
law is based on the Ten Commandments. The Constitution contains no
religious directives whatsoever and makes no mention of the Ten
Commandments or even God. The Constitution, a secular document,
instead establishes religious freedom for all by separating church and
state in the First Amendment. In addition, both Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams explicitly denied that Christianity is the basis for American
common law.
(And, despite frequent repetition by the Religious Right, there is no
evidence that James Madison ever stated, "We have staked the whole
future of American civilization ... upon the capacity of each of us to
govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." This
quotation pops up repeatedly in Religious Right circles, but it is almost
certainly bogus.)
AU's Green concluded that arguments that U.S. law is based on the
Ten Commandments or any religious code are specious. "At best, the
most that could be said about the relationship of the Ten

Commandments to the law is that the former has influenced legal
notions of right and wrong ... ," Green concluded. "[T]hat has always
been a noncontroversial fact. But to Insist on a closer relationship or to
hold the Ten Commandments up as having a special place in the
development of American law lacks historical support."
Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn said Green's
research proving that the Ten Commandments are not the foundation
of the American legal system will be extremely useful. Green's
schoiarshlp, said Lynn, shows that there is no "secular purpose" for
government display of the Ten Commandments.
Concluded Lynn. "There's an easy solution to this controversy: Let
religious groups promote the Ten Commandments. The government
should stay out of it."
-1-
- with the help of Rev. D. James Kennedy and the Alabama Christian
-
Questia Media America, Inc. www.queslia.com
-:.-.... " Moore gained a great deal of attention and
PUbli~ati?n Information: Article Title: T.he T~n Commandments a Sequel.
Cont~uto:s: Rob Boston - author. Magazine Title: Church & State. Volume: 54. Issue:
7. PublIcation Date: July 2001. Page Number: 9. COPYRIGHT 2001 Americans United
for Separation of Church and State; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
'The Rutherford Institute! "4(('\ di)f'T J j~)
it'c ''''';......" ...
3/31/2004
The Fraternal Order of Eagles and the War over the Ten
Commandments
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves," Jesus Christ
tells his followers in Matthew 10: 16. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents,
and harmless as doves." Two millenia after the fact, Alabama Chief
Justice Roy Moore took these words to heart, at least in regard to the
serpent, and slipped into the state Supreme Court bUilding one late night
shortly after his 2000 election. As Coral Ridge Ministries cameras rolled,
Moore and supporters installed a 5,300-pound granite monument in the
rotunda of the state courthouse displaying the Ten Commandments with
other historical documents inscribed on the sides.
Moore first became associated with the Decalogue in the mid-1990s
when, as an Etowah County judge, he posted a paper copy of the
Commandments in his courtroom. He successfully fought for three years,
Coalition, to keep the modest display posted.
support with the same sort of radical
stubbornness Alabama governor George Wallace
defiantly displayed a few decades earlier. In
2000, the brash West Point grad was elected the
top judicial officer in Alabama, in part for
pledging to bring the Ten Commandments with
him. As Moore has fought his much-publicized
battle over the last few years (and continues to
fight), Ten Commandments displays around the
country have fallen into the spotlight in their
respective regions. Over the last few years, the
ACLU and similar but smaller groups have filed
lawsuits in small towns and cities throughout
America to remove Commandments monuments from public property.
As Moore awaits a decision in his appeal of his removal as Chief Justice,
traveling the country accepting awards from the Constitution Party (there
are rumors that he will accept their presidential nomination) and making
appearances at Commandments rallies, Decalogue displays everywhere
are being removed either voluntarily or by court order. Unlike Moore's
carefully crafted Commandments paean, though, most of the monuments
currently subjected to review involve gifts from the Fraternal Order of
Eagles made three to four decades ago to hundreds of cities (a recent
Reuters article claimed that at least 26 such monuments in 15 states
have been moved in recent years under court order or legal threat).
In 1943, a Minnesota juvenile court judge named E. J. Ruegemer hatched
a simple plan to save the youth of America, whom he saw as "without
any code of conduct or standards by which to govern their actions."
Accordingly, the judge concluded that the nation's juveniles "could benefit
from exposure to one of mankind's earliest codes of condUct, the Ten
Commandments." The judge also happened to be the chair of the Youth
 Guidance Committee of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a goodwill group
. formed near the end of the 19th century that today claims as one of its
chief accomplishments the advent of Mother's Day.
The judge's proposal to post paper copies of the Ten Commandments in
juvenile court houses throughout the country was initially rejected by the
Eagles. Despite the judge's stipulation that the Decalogue displays were
"not to be a religious instruction of any kind" and were intended only as
"recognized codes of behavior to guide and help them," the Eagles
leadership expressed concern that supporting the dissemination of the
Commandments "might seem coercive or sectarian."
However, their concerns were alleviated when a council of Protestant,
Jewish, and Catholic laymen endorsed a version of the Decalogue and the
Eagles agreed to sponsor the youth gUidance program. As the story goes,
it was at this point that movie director Cecil B. DeMille, in the midst of
producing the blockbuster The Ten Commandments, caught wind of the
plan, contacted Ruegemer and suggested that instead of paper, the
Decalogue should be inscribed on bronze plaques. The juvenile court
judge countered that since the Commandments, according to biblical
tradition, were written on stone, so should these monuments be. With this
decision, two local granite companies began crafting displays in the shaper
of two tablets, paid for and distributed by various Eagle chapters or
"aeries" to numerous state and local governments across America. While
it is impossible to deter,rn.ne the~exact number of monuments produced
and installed, .ij:oois__believed that up to 2,000 were eventually distributed
a,pd "accepted over the following two decades.
Today, these monuments, which are often grand
in size and resemble a giant tombstone, are the
subject of most litigation involving Ten
Commandments displays. A quick survey of
current and recent litigation turned up dozens of
cases around the country, the most recent
involving a reddish stone installation in front of
City Hall that the FOE gave to Duluth, Minn. in
1957. The Minnesota Civil Liberties Union filed
suit in the first week of March to remove the
display for violating the First Amendment by
promoting one religion over another. The MCLU
attorney stated that the monument "excludes
those people who don't believe in the Ten
Commandments. They may be atheists ... they may be BUddhist, they
may be Hindu, they may be Muslim." Only days later, the Duluth City
Council voted 5-4 to remove the 7-foot-high monument. Neither the
crowd of Commandments supporters outside the building nor impassioned
speakers inside could dissuade the council from its fears of costly
litigation (estimates of $20,000). While there have been a number of
offers to house it, no concrete plans have been made for the display's
departure or where the Eagles' gift will eventually rest. Meanwhile,
citizens in support of the monument have raised over $17,000 and
collected 2,000 signatures, with 3,000 more needed to put the display on
a November ballot.
So far, most monument litigation has met a similar fate. Despite efforts
to avoid a legal battle, many challenged cities are drawn into court. As a
result, judges are called upon to decide the fate of the Ten
Commandments, and nearly all have found that the large monuments
. serve as state endorsement of religion because of their simple place on
public property. Most of the disputed stone slabs are often situated in
front of City Hall. In one instance, where the monument was ac~uallY .
allowed to stay, a Texas court took into account the monument s location
near a rarely used side exit.
In that case a homeless man living in Austin sued for the monument's
removal next to the state capitol building. However, the court ruled in
December 2003 that no reasonable person would consider the display a
religious endorsement. Donated to the state in 1961 by the FOE, the 5-
foot-high granite display was found to have the secular purpo~e ~f
encouraging youth morality. Contributing factors to the U.S. Dlstnct
Court's decision included the lack of a state seal or Texas star on the
monument. The judge also said that its location-next to a seldom used
door and facing away from vehicle traffic-weakened the plaintiff's claim.
ThiS "victory" illustrates the basic struggle for any Commandments p.U?lic
display. Absent a defiant magistrate, a city must prove its lack of religIOUS
intent. As in Austin, an obstructed view can be an important factor.
Recently, City Council members in Albert Lea, Minn. pledged to keep a
... nearly identical monument to the one in Duluth in their Central Park. "I
don't see where there's a problem with it being there," one Council
member told a newspaper. A second added, "We could use a little more
religion in the world." A third seemed more pragmatic. "It really makes no
difference to me either way," he said. "I can understand both sides." The
paper noted what may very well be more important than resolve for. the
survival of the monument if the ACLU brings suit. The sizeable slab IS
partially obscured by a few evergreen trees.
A few cities in the same situation as Albert Lea have tried to avoid
removal by selling the patch of land the monument is on to the Fraternal
Order of Eagles, thus making the installation private. The FOE donated
one of its monuments to Frederick in 1958. For much of its existence, the
stone display stood in front of City Hall but was eventually moved to a
city park where it was planted among other items like a George
Washington plaque and various war memorials. In 2002, the ACLU sought
to remove the monument but dropped its suit after the city sold the
monument and a parcel of land to the FOE. In 2003, Americans United for
Separation of Church and State filed suit against the city and the FOE,
challenging the transaction.
i-::::;;;:;;:-----iFaced with similar litigation, the Casper,
Wyoming City Council voted to remove their
en Commandments monument from City Park
in October of 2003 after the Freedom from
Religion Foundation asked that it be removed
from government property. After long,
involved debates, Council members voted 5-4
L --:- -:-~to move the Ten Commandments to a historic
plaza, where they can be viewed as an "integral part of history." Part of
the city's motivation stemmed from the fea: ~hat they ~~st a~so allow
other monuments that espouse differing religiOUS or polttlcal views.
Kansas anti-gay extremist Fred Phelps, head of God Hates Fags, has
called for the installation of his own monument (click here to see a larger
image) in Casper condemning slain gay student Matthew Shepard.
 Rev. Phelps made similar entreaties throughout the West after the Tenth
, Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2002 in Summum v. Ogden that public
bodies must accept displays of alternate messages if they continue to
keep Ten Commandments monuments on public property. This past fall,
the Tenth Circuit refused to reconsider its ruling that constitutional
guarantees of free speech require the city to remove the Ten
Commandments monument or accept one listing the "Seven Aphorisms" of
Summum, a religion founded in Salt Lake City 27 years ago. Summum
sued the city in 1999 after it refused to accept a donation of a stone
monument listing Summum's tenets. The Ten Commandments monument
was donated to the city in 1966 by the Ogden Fraternal Order of Eagles.
The ruling prompted the state of Utah to move or remove seven
monuments from public property across the state, not only in Salt Lake
City but also in Ogden, Murray, Tooele, Roy and Provo.
Similar apprehensions caused Boise, Idaho officials in January 2003 to
vote to remove a display of the Decalogue from the City Park and return
it to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, which donated it to the city in 1965.
The Council made the decision in hopes of heading off Rev. Phelps, whose
request to install his monument is set for a hearing before the Council
this April 6th. After the Council's decision to remove the marker, a Keep
the Commandments Coalition formed and filed a lawsuit to obstruct the -- ...
city from removing the monument. On February 11, 2004, a judge for the
U.S. District Court denied the coalition's request and gave the county the
freedom to move the ,mCSrlUrilent. The City Council, trying to recoup legal
expenses fron1"the Coalition for the costs of litigation so far encurred,
moved the 3,000-pond monument on Monday, March 29th, by crane to a
nearby Episcopal Church that faces the state Capitol.
)
Thirteen advocates of the monument, including State Rep. Henry Kulczyk,
were arrested before the display's removal. Grandmother and pharmacist
Gloria Pfost, facing a possible $300 fine and six months in jail if
convicted, remained undeterred. "I would give more than just a fine and
time In jail for this/' she told The Idaho Statesman. "I would give my
right arm, and even more than that."
Outside the Tenth Circuit's jurisdiction, though,
and absent any more federal rulings, courts have
generally followed accepted doctrine prohibiting
state endorsement of religion. Because the FOE
monuments are so conspicuous and typically
perceived as tied to one religion, Christianity,
many courts have found them in violation of the
Constitution. Considering the high profile of Roy
Moore's attempt to install his monument, as well
as the increased visibility of religion in
contemporary culture, these monuments are
likely to come under increased review. The
~ .- following are additional current or recent cases
involving Ten Commandments monuments that
were originally donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles:
Everett, Wash;ngton
In September of 2003, 20-year-old Jesse Card filed a $1 suit against the
city of Everett, demanding that the Ten Commandments monument in
front of the city's police station be removed (click here to see an image).
Arguing that the monument is equal to state endorsement of one religion
over another, Card suggested that the Commandments should be moved
• to the nearby Presbyterian Church or given to the Everett Eagles-the
organization that donated the monument to the city in 1959. A decision
has not yet been made in the case, but a resolution was recently passed
stipulating that the city council "vigorously supports efforts by the city of
Everett to maintain its long-standing monument containing the Ten
Commandments outside old city hall."
Kansas c;ty, Kansas
In June of 2003, a Commandments monument in front of Wyandotte
County Courthouse was moved to a Catholic Church lawn 150 feet away.
The local board of commissioners voted 8-0 to move the monument after
the ACLU threatened to sue the city jf the nearly 40-year-old monument
remained. "At a time when we're trying to save money any way we can
and lower taxes, it just seems to be a prudent decision to make," said
Commissioner Kelley Kultala.
Plattsmouth, Nebraska
In 2002, the ACLU filed suit to remove a monument of the Ten
Commandments from City Park. A district court judge ruled against the
city of Plattsmouth and ordered the monument removed. Later that year
an appeal was filed and on February 18, 2004, the Eighth Circuit upheld
the ruling that the monument must be removed.
La Crosse, Wisconsin
The Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit against the city to
remove a 35-year-old monument from the City Park. Immediately after
the sl:lit was filed, the city sold the monument, along with a 440 square-
foot plot, to the same organization, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, that
had initially donated the display. Terms of the sale required the
organization to erect fences and post disclaimers clearly stating that the
display and area were privately owned. Despite these measures, a District
Court Judge ruled in February 2004 that the monument must be removed
from Cameron Park in La Crosse. Following the ruling, the La Crosse
common council voted 13-2 to appeal the case to the Seventh Circuit
Court of Appeals.
Habersham County, Georg;a
In 2003, part-time Baptist minister Bo Turner filed suit against the county
of Habersham to remove the display of the Ten Commandments on the
county courthouse and a public swimming pool. Turner claimed that as a
religious symbol the Commandments had no place in the courthouse. On
November 18, 2003, a district court judge ruled that the city must
remove the Ten Commandments from the courthouse and a public
swimming pool. The Habersham commission voted on February 9, 2004
not to appeal the case and agreed to move the monuments.
Hanover, Pennsylvania
In early February 2004, Americans United for Separation of Church and
State threatened county officials with a laWSUit if the Ten Commandments
are not removed from Wirt Park in Hanover, York County. County officials
are not sure if they can afford a costly legal battle over the monument
and have not yet made a decision as to what they should do. Several
churches in the area have offered to help pay to have the
Commandments moved to their private property. Many townspeople are
opposed to the proposed removal from the park and over 10,000 people
have signed a petition asking the county to fight the lawsuit. Council
 members say it could be months before a decision is made.

•
RELATED LINKS: Journal of Religion & Society Volume 6 (2004)

White Paper: Affirming Religious and Traditional Heritage: ISSN 1522-5658

Constitutional Guidelines for Displaying the Ten Commandments
(PDF)
Press Release: Rutherford Institute Assists Arkansas District Judge
in Defending Constitutional Display of Ten Commandments in
Courtroom
Legal feature: The Law on "The law": Why Roy Moore Lost
Ten Commandments Monuments and the Rivalry oflconic
Texts
James W. Watts, Syracuse University
Abstract
The legal and political controversy over Ten Commandments monuments in the United States
revolves around iconic texts holding a discrete symbolic value compared to texts whose function

. ~~ ~~\
primarily is to be read. A comparative perspective on iconic texts reveals that the nation's
founding documents, the Declaration ofIndependence, the Constitution. and the Bill of Rights.

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have also been increasingly turned into monumental icons over the last half-century. The

......
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Discuss this article on the new
commandments controversy can therefore be understood as competition among iconic texts for
symbolic supremacy. At stake in that struggle are basic issues over how the nation will represent
the government's relationship to the many religions represented within its popUlation.
~ ~' Rutherford Freedom Forum message
.. board! Introduction
~ ~~~y~ ~
[1] The legal and political controversy over Ten Conunandments monuments in the United
States involves iconic texts holding a discrete symbolic value compared to texts whose function
primarily is to be read. The nation's founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, the
(. Sign-up to receive The Rutherford Institute's Insider Report E- Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, have also increasingly been turned into monumental icons
"") newsl etter! over the last half-century. The Ten Commandments controversy can therefore be understood in
terms of competition among iconic texts for symbolic supremacy. Like the placement of divine
Get your free copy of the Bill of Rights! images in ancient Near Eastern temples, struggles over the public display of iconic national and
religious texts involve claims for their relative prestige in contemporary America.
Support the Fight! Give Today! [2] I will defend these claims by describing the nature of iconic texts and the trend to enshrine
American national texts as icons. First, I will review the recent controversy over Ten
Legal Feature Archives
Conunandments monuments, since events in Alabama in 2003 demonstrated very clearly that the
Ten Conunandments is an iconic text in America. The essential features of the extensive media
coverage of this event are as follows:
[3] In 2001, the newly elected Alabama Chief Justice, Roy Moore, installed a two-ton granite
monument of the Ten Conunandments in the rotunda of the State Judicial Building. After a series
of lawsuits, in the summer of 2003 a Federal court ordered the monument removed, calling its
presence there an infringement on the constitutional separation between church and state. This
order prompted an outpouring of support for the monument and for Judge Moore. Evangelical
Christians protested and prayed by the commandments and in front of the building after they
The Rutherford Institute
P.O. Box 7482 were evicted from the premises. A rabbi promised Moore the support of two Orthodox Jewish
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482 organizations. Delays in implementing the court order extended the protests for several weeks,
Phone :: 434.978.3888 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern) I Fax :: 434.978.1789
General inquiries:: staff@rutherford.org Legal assistance:: tristaff@rutherford.org until finally the monument was removed from view (AP, August 1,2001; August 15, 2003;
Technical comments:: webmaster@rutherford.org CNN).
[4] The media covered these events extensively both in the United States and abroad. They
prompted considerable debate about religion, law, and the state, but also much bemusement over
") the intense emotions the presence of this monument aroused. No one should have been surprised;

Journal ofReligion & Society 1 6 (2004)

.
similar events had occurred around the country for the past several years. In 2002, protesters had
to be dragged away from a plaque of the Ten Commandments in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
so that it could be covered while a lawsuit over its display was appealed (Philadelphia Inquirer,
April 23, 2002). One judge ordered the plaque removed, but an appeals court overruled the order,
saying that the plaque could be preserved because of its eighty.three-year-old historical value
(Philadelphia Inquirer, September 13, 2003). Other lawsuits against Ten Commandments
monuments on public land have been filed in numerous communities. Sometimes, protests have
occurred against Ten Commandments monuments (for example, in Austin, Texas; see Metroplex
Atheists), and in a few places such monuments have even been vandalized with graffiti stating
that they are unconstitutional (as in South Bend, Indiana; see South Bend Tribune).
[5] Clearly, a plaque or monument of the Ten Commandments carries powerful symbolism in
contemporary America. But why has this symbol now become such an object of devotion,
derision, and conflict? The news coverage of the Alabama commandments monument COJUlects
to an aspect of my own research that may shed some light on this phenomenon.
Iconic Books and Texts
[6] The Iconic Book Project at Syracuse University is assembling a database of images and
- of courthouses and public classrooms, a Ten Commandments movement is pushing forward in
descriptions of iconic books. An "iconic" book or text may be defined as one that is manipulated,
displayed, venerated, and/or decor~tedJn~dditionto being read. To a certain extent, all books
are iconic because bool$.§. are symbolic representations of culture. Books that appear in works of
art aim to evokt;asso~ations with education, religious authority, and law, to name a few
exampfes:The possession of books characterizes the owner's learning or piety. However, sacred
religious books and political texts carry more iconic status than other books and texts. The ritual
display of sacred books establishes the legitimacy of religious rituals and the authority of
religious leaders. Politicians in many cultures use sacred texts or national constitutions in
swearing-in ceremonies that legitimize political authority and succession. Religious scriptures
often receive extensive embellislunent of their texts and covers, as well as elaborate cases for
preservation and display. In all these ways, people treat books as icons, that is, the symbolic
manifestation of divine authority and/or state sovereignty.
[7] The Iconic Book Project subjects the phenomenon of iconic books to cross-cultural
comparison and analysis, looking for cultural and historical patterns of usage and development.
Although the project has only recently gotten underway, some provisional conclusions can
already be drawn from this materiaL One of these conclusions is that the iconic use of books in
Western culture has not declined in modem times. It has in fact increased over the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, and plays a central role in many contemporary religions as well as in the
political discourses of many countries.
[8] One kind of evidence for this conclusion can be found in the depictions of scriptures in art.
Prior to the nineteenth century, books or other kinds of texts were usually depicted with people:
they signify the person's scholarship or religious orthodoxy or, in the case of divine figures, the
source of the book's authority. Traditional Jewish art generally did not portray Torah scrolls,
preferring to depict the ark that contains the scrolls. However, in imagery from the last one
hundred and fifty years, sacred books and scrolls have been freed of such contexts; they become
objects of artistic interest in themselves. Pictures of Bibles or Torah scrolls or Qurans now
appear frequently as the focus of attention in works of art and popular media. They have become
independent icons of religious truth and power in contemporary visual culture.
Journal ofReligion & Society 2 6 (2004)
[9] The Alabama Ten Commandments clearly fits the description of an iconic text. Of course,
proponents of the Ten Commandments movement also promote reading the commandments: one
philanthropist promised ten dollars to every child in American who memorized them (AP, April
10,2003). However, it is important to state again that the Alabama monument was designed to
be seen as much as read. Its massive bulk symbolized divine authority behind human law. Its
public display in a court building laid claim to the representation of religion as a fundamental
source of American goverrunent (see Ten Commandments Defense Fund).
[10] Therefore, the controversy over the monument is one symptom of contemporary culture's
increasing fascination with iconic texts. Examining the debate in the context of iconic books and
texts casts the political and religious forces in conflict over Ten Commandments monuments in a
different light than do the usual legal and political commentaries.
The Ten Commandments Movement
[11] A "Ten Commandments movement" has been gathering steam for several years. In 2000,
the Associated Press reported that "With its message on yard signs, book covers and on the walls
Kentucky and nationwide" (January 7, 2000). The article mentioned efforts to post Ten
Commandments in courts and schools in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and California, and spoke of
Ten Commandments rallies across the country. Frank Flinn wrote: "This controversy is quickly
replacing abortion as the litmus test for Christian values in the public forum. A complicated
constitutional lawsuit over abortion is difficult to pay for and argue. Hanging the Decalogue in a
public hallway is both cheap and easy." The escalating battles since then over such monuments
confIrm his assessment.
[12] The Associated Press also reported in 2000 that "Roy Moore, an Alabama circuit judge who
refused to take down the commandments posted in his courtroom in 1995, has spoken about his
case at Christian rallies across the country - including one Nov. 7 in Corbin, Ky., that 3,000
people attended. He encourages school boards to post the Ten Commandments even if it means a
costly lawsuit for the district" (January 7, 2000). Later that year, Moore campaigned for Chief
Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court on the slogan "The Ten Commandment's Judge" and won
by a wide margin.
[13] When Moore installed his granite monument in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial
Building, he did so in the middle of the night and without consulting the other justices of the
court. However, he made sure his action was noticed: "A Florida TV preacher who supports
Moore, D. James Kennedy, had a crew from his Coral Ridge Ministries film the installation and
offered videotapes of it for a donation of$19," the Associated Press reported (October 16,2002).
In the lawsuits that followed, Moore testified that he began planning to put a monument in the
judicial building at his inauguration in January 2001. Moore acted self-consciously to promote a
national movement of Christian political action, and to defy opposing social forces. His defense
attorney called the suits against the monument part of a national movement "to censor God." It
may be fair to say that in the course of this controversy, the Ten Commandments have become a
symbol representing Evangelical political goals.
[14] However, other courthouse monuments of the Ten Commandments are products of much
earlier movements. The Ten Commandments have been a common theme in Western religious
and legal art. The tablets on which the commandments are traditionally represented, alone or
Journal ofReligion & Society 3 6 (2004)
.
with lions rampant, often decorate the synagogue arks containing the Torah scrolls. The "holy
ark" [ha 'aron haqodesh] usually occupies the most prominent position facing the congregation.
The tablets of the commandments emphasize the centrality of law in Jewish tradition, and are a
common feature of synagogue architecture. The fact that the tablets often contain only the
munbers one through ten in Hebrew characters (or Roman numerals in Christian iconography) in
place of the actual commandments further illustrates their iconic role in Jewish and Christian
cultures.
[15] During the Protestant Refonnation of the sixteenth century, some European churches
replaced their pictorial altar pieces with biblical texts, often the Ten Commandments, as part of
an iconoclastic reaction against images in churches (Koerner). In England, "Decalogue boards"
appeared after the Refonnation, not only to demonstrate essentials of Christian behavior but also
the legal power of the state over the church. Few have survived the changing tides of English
religious politics: many were painted over by seventeenth-century Puritans who opposed all
visual displays, even textual ones; others were reinstalled by eighteenth-century Evangelicals,
but were dismantled again by the nineteenth-century Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement (see
Suffolk County Churches). Their fate shows that the Ten Commandments have long been a
potent symbol when religion and state clash over issues oflaw. It also demonstrates that their"
symbolism may be wielded by the state against religious dissidents as much as by religious
groups against state authority. ."
C;; -",
[16] Art in other conte~..s..usua11Yportraysthe commandments in the hands of Moses, in a scene
often reproduced.in monUiilental sculpture decorating graveyards and memorials, American law
schools:ana courthouses. The current U.S. Supreme Court building, opened in 1935, portrays
Moses holding the tablets of the commandments as the central and largest figure on its east
pediment. Court rulings allow such displays if they are motivated by historical, rather than
religious, intent. In this case, Confucius and Solon flank Moses so that the three represent
historical antecedents of U.S. law in Chinese, Hebrew, and Greek cultures. But Moses' central
position and larger size nevertheless lends support to the Ten Commandments movement:
proponents often cite it and other artwork depicting Moses and the commandments in
Washington government buildings as examples of the Federal Judiciary's hypocrisy in outlawing
Ten Commandments displays on public land (for example, Pat Robertson on CBNNews and the
photo essays by Carrie Devorah in the National Conservative Weekly).
[17] Religious groups set up Ten Commandments monuments on public sites in some American
cities as early as the 1920s. During World War II, Minnesota Judge E. J. Ruegemer, with the
support of the Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE), a nation-wide service club, pushed to have the
Ten Commandments posted on the walls ofjuvenile court rooms (Mittlebeeler). Ruegemer
defended this action as non-sectarian because ''the Commandments are not just a religious rule,
but a good code of conduct which can be followed by everyone, regardless of creed" (ACLJ).
The trend gathered steam in the 1950s, when the FOE began donating granite monuments of the
Ten Commandments to courthouses across the country. This effort was bankrolled by Cecil B.
De-Mille, whose movie "The Ten Commandments" was released in 1956 (FOE). The FOE claim
to have set up over four thousand monuments to date (Minneapolis Star Tribune). In the 1990s,
Evangelical Christians reenergized such efforts by mobilizing to defend existing monuments and
install new ones.
[18] Proponents have often repeated the claim that the commandments distill a moral and
spiritual code common to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions. The FOE worked to
Journal ofReligion & Society 4 6 (2004)
synthesize the different wording and enumeration of the commandments in Jewish, Catholic, and
Protestant traditions to produce a version acceptable to all. The commandments monuments were
therefore one more expression of the mid-twentieth century effort to promote an American civil
religion that also produced the phrase "under God" in its Pledge of Allegiance. This effort built
on a tradition dating back to the 1864, when the phrase "In God We Trust" first appeared on U.S.
coins. These efforts during the Civil War and Cold War tapped religious sentiment to fuel
American nationalism. The Ten Commandments monuments, by virtue of their monumental
character, gave God a visible place in public space, which is what their sponsors intended.
Robert S. Nelson and Margaret Olin observe that this is the function of any public monument:
"The Monument expresses the power and sense of the society that gives it meaning, and at the
same time obscures competing claims for authority and meaning" (7).
[19] Claims for the universalism of the commandments encounter more resistance at the
beginning of the twenty-first century, however, when immigration has diversified the American
religious landscape and Christian and Jewish communities find themselves split internally over
many issues, including state display of the commandments. For example, several groups
representing Christian and Jewish denominations as well as interfaith organizations filed amici
curiae briefs opposing the Alabama Ten Commandments monument (see Alabama Supreme
Court), in contrast to the Christian and Jewish support for it cited above. The commandments
have now become a symbol of conservative political and religious agendas in an era when sharp
ideological differences divide both political and religious institutions.
[20] Some advocates are using the decades-old tolerance for monuments to the Ten
Commandments for openly divisive purposes. Reverend Fred Phelps proposed erecting
monuments on public lands in cities in Wyoming, Idaho, and Kansas to commemorate Matthew
Shephard, murdered in 1998 because he was gay. But he intended to commemorate Shephard not
as a victim of murder, but as an object lesson of someone who "entered hell" because of his
homosexual behavior. In Pennsylvania, Phelps announced a similar effort to focus on a gay man
who committed suicide in 1997. Phelps cited a ruling of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that
"any city that displays a Ten Commandments monument on public property must also allow
monuments espousing the views of other religions or political groups on that same property"
(AP, February 1,2004). The city council ofeasper, Wyoming, where Shephard was murdered,
considered removing their Ten Commandments monument, donated by the FOE in 1965, to
frustrate Phelps' legal challenge. These developments illustrate not only the complicated legal
problems posed by religious monuments, but also the iconic tendency of monuments to generate
more monuments. When society enshrines some texts, opposing social groups tend to interpret
the symbolic relationship between such texts differently, some seeing them as mutually
supportive while others view them as contradictory. Since the relationships between iconic texts
is symbolic, such disputes cannot be resolved by simply interpreting the contents of the texts.
[21] The net effect of this history is that the Ten Commandments have become a common
symbol for the claim that U.S. law and government developed from religious roots and that it
should remain true to them. However, the; Ten Commandments are not alone in being displayed
on public property as iconic texts. In fact, the Ten Commandments movement is playing catch-
up with another movement in American society, the one to elevate the country's foundational
documents to the status of iconic texts. This movement has developed in ways that parallel both
the Ten Commandments movement and other ways in which religious groups revere and
popularize their sacred texts.
Journal ofReligion & Society 5 6 (2004)
I
_ _J
 Iconic National Texts
[22] Since the late 19405, another American service organization, the Exchange Club, has been
placing "Freedom Shrines" in public schools, government buildings, and courthouses throughout
the United States. The shrines contain twenty or thirty documents, including the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, as well as materials ranging in date from
the Mayflower Compact to Martin Luther King, Jt.'s "I Have a Dream" speech (see NEe,
"Freedom Shrine"). The National Exchange Club developed Freedom Shrines as part of its
"Americanism" project, which promotes "pride in country, respect for the flag, and appreciation
of our freedoms" (NEC, "Americanism"). The club claims to have placed more than twelve
thousand shrines nationwide. It distributes the shrines to its local clubs together with suggested
rituals and speeches for dedication ceremonies (NEC, "Exchange Marketplace").
[23] Around the middle of the twentieth century, the original founding documents of the United
States were installed in the Rotunda of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. In the
installation ceremony, held on December 13, 1952, President Harry S. Truman said:
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are now
assembled in one place for display and safekeeping ... We are engaged here ...r
today in a symbolic act. We are enshrining these documents for future ages ...
This magnificent hall has been ~onstructecl to exhibit them, and the vault beneath,
that we have b~ilt to protecf'thet1,~iS as safe from destruction as anything that the
wit of m9de~ can devise. All this is an honorable effort, based upon
4'everence for the great past, and our generation can take just pride in it (NARA,
• (. emphasis mine).
After undergoing extensive renovations, the rotunda of the National Archives was reopened on
September 18, 2003. The National Archives publicized the event with rhetoric of a promised
renewal of not only national but worldwide import: "The Charters of Freedom: A New World is
at Hand," The following description captures a sense of the rotunda's architectural effect:
Placed in the center of the grand 75-foot high domed semi-circular Rotunda, the
Charters are currently displayed in a raised marble case, flanked by two 35-foot
murals depicting the presentation of the Declaration of Independence to John
Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, on the left; and James Madison
presenting George Washington with the final draft of the U.S. Constitution, on the
right. The Declaration is mounted vertically on the wall above the Constitution
and the Bill of Rights. Each night the Charters are lowered twenty feet into a steel
and reinforced concrete vault beneath the display area (NARA).
The architecture of the rotunda and its display cases evokes, consciously or unconsciously, that
of a synagogue ark that holds Torah scrolls. Truman rightly described the foundational
documents as "enshrined."
[24] The tendency to characterize the Constitution as incomparable was taken even further by the
publicity for the new National Constitution Center that opened in Philadelphia on July 4, 2003. It
is promoted as a constitutional theme park:
Just as the Constitution affects every facet of Americans' daily lives, so will the
National Constitution Center (NCC) use a wide variety of media - interactive and
multi-media exhibits, live actors and interpreters, film, music, artifacts, television,
Journal ofReligion & Society 6 6 (2004)
text panels and labels, sculpture, and the Internet - to bring the document to life
(National Constitution Center).
This textual theme park invites comparison with Christian Bible theme parks that have been
popular in recent decades (Jim Bakker's well-known "Heritage USA" went bankrupt in the late
1980s, but there are others: Holy Land Experience opened in 2000 in Orlando, Florida; an old
example is Field of the Woods in Murphy, North Carolina, which among other things advertises
''the world's largest Ten Commandments"). In Philadelphia's Constitution Center, the text of the
Constitution is etched in 450 feet of illuminated glass encircling the main exhibit hall. At its
opening, boosters proclaimed the universal importance of the Constitution in language that
makes the rhetoric of the Ten Commandments' movement look modest by comparison.
"Through these elements, NCC visitors will discover the history behind the world's most
important document as well as the depth and breadth to which it affects every single American
today" (emphasis mine; for the current, somewhat less hyperbolic publicity, see NCC).
[25] Thus, since the mid-twentieth century, the U.S. government and various private groups have
been raising the iconic status of the Constitution and its associated documents by treating them
as visual symbols of the nation's government and ideals. Of course, proponents also hope to
encourage greater familiarity with them by having the public read them. The focus on their
physical form, however, whether original (in the National Archives rotunda) or in reproduction
(in the Constitution Center and in Freedom Shrines), encourages a symbolism and universalistic
rhetoric otherwise associated with the sacred texts of various religious traditions.
The Rivalry of Iconic Texts
[26] It is doubtful that the protestors at the Alabama courthouse would have liked these claims
about the incomparability of the U.S. Constitution. Not that the Ten Commandments movement
is inherently anti-constitutional; far from it. Some Evangelical leaders hold a very high view of
the Constitution as "the greatest document ever penned by human hands," an oft.repeated catch-
phrase that exempts comparisons with divinely-inspired scripture (used in this way, for example,
by the conservative commentators Cal Thomas and David Black; Reverend Jerry Falwell prefers
to restrict this accolade to the Declaration of Independence). However, they do want the
Constitution and the Federal courts that interpret it to acknowledge the higher authority of God
and scripture. Some protestors in the Alabama monument incident wore t-shirts that juxtaposed a
cross over the American flag and waved their bibles as they burned copies of the federal court
order to remove the monument from the rotunda (AP photo, August 31, 2003). This ritual
concisely represented the conflict as one between iconic texts, elevating one while destroying the
other. It also illustrated the fact that the texts each side defended represent, and to some degree
camouflage, other realities: Evangelicals use the Ten Commandments as a cipher for the entire
Christian Bible, an iconic text considered in its entirety to be the literal utterance of God, and
which represents for them the sum of Evangelical beliefs about religion and politics. The Federal
Courts use the Constitution as a cipher for their own authority over American law, and over
every aspect of government and society that law touches. This sets the two texts, as icons, on a
collision course for symbolic supremacy.
[27] Some communities have compromised by combining the two movements. They have
incorporated the Ten Commandments into a display of significant "historical" documents, since
court rulings allow historical, but not religious, displays. An imitator of Roy Moore erected a
short-lived monument in North Carolina in front of the Winston-Salem City Hall with the Ten
Journal ofReligion & Society 7 6 (2004)
..
 Commandments on one side and the Bill of Rights on the other (AP, January 20, 2004). More
successful examples can be found in Charles County, North Carolina, the Georgia State Capitol,
and the Garrard County Courthouse in Lancaster, Kentucky. The Christian Coalition sponsored
the installation of such a display in the Alabama State Judicial Building after failing to save Roy
Moore's monument (CNSNews). But Roy Moore rejected this compromise: "To put things
around the Ten Commandments and secularize it is to deny the greatness of God," he said (AP,
September 10,2003). "First, they hid the word of God in a closet; and now they tried to hide it
among other historical documents. Neither is an acknowledgment of God" (CNSNews).
[28] Moore's career exemplifies the fact that we live in a period of iconic struggle in which
many of the most contested icons are books or texts. Analysis of this news from the perspective
of comparative iconography allows one to see patterns of cultural development that the legal
arguments obscure. For example, some Evangelical observers have commented on the irony of
advocating stone monuments of commandments that forbid "carved images of anything in
heaven, on earth, or under the earth" (see Christianity Today). Christian opponents of Roy
Moore have bluntly labeled his efforts "idolatrous" (New York Times; ABP). From this
perspective, the Federal courts can be viewed as iconoclasts trying to keep their "temples" pure
from "foreign" influences. But the iconoclastic controversies between the supporters and
opponents of images that have periodically erupted in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim history
have generally resulted in replaci~g o~ set of iIpages with another, and this case is no exception.
'>t" ~
[29] 1?~ public .dis~~~r?f icoiftc t~xts per s~ is not seriously in qu~stion in the current debate;
what IS In que~tIOn IS tHeIr appropnate locatIOn. Debates over locatIOn have been characteristic of
iconoClastic controversies, but an even better analogy to the current conflict can be found in
ancient struggles for the supremacy of one image over others. Ancient gods were patrons of
particular temples and states, and the placement and relative positions of their images in ancient
Near Eastern temples reflected the political status of kings and cities. Victorious kings would
place the gods of conquered cities in subordinate positions before their own patron deity. (A
biblical story about such iconic rivalries can be found in 1 Samuel 5.) The iconic struggle over
the Ten Commandments in contemporary America is less about whether to pennit iconic texts,
and even less so about whether to enshrine the Ten Commandments or the Constitution. It is
rather about where to enshrine them and how to symbolize their relative position and status.
[30] Not often reported in the media frenzy over the Alabama case is the fact that the Alabama
State Judicial Building already contained an iconic text, a bronze copy of the Bill of Rights
(Religion News Service). Moore and his supporters seem to want the Constitution to bow before
the Commandments and the Bible; in their words, they want the courts "to acknowledge God."
The Federal Courts refuse to compromise the Constitution's symbolic supremacy over U.S.
government and society. Their rulings defend the sanctity of a national icon (the Constitution)
and its temples (the courts). Both the courts and religious groups are engaged in a battle for the
symbolic supremacy of their iconic texts. In Alabama, the granite commandments have come
and gone, but the bronze Bill of Rights remains.
[31] Because Western culture has for so long privileged texts over images, many readers'
immediate reaction to this account may be to dismiss the entire conflict as superficial, as
masking the "real" battles about how to interpret the important texts, specifically the Bible and
the Constitution. This perspective claims that interpretive issues in law and theology are more
~damental than symbolism, which functions simply as inexact shorthand for these underlying
Issues.
I, Journal ofReligion & Society 8 6 (2004)
I
I
[32] From the perspective of the comparative study of iconic texts, however, such appeals to
basic textual reality look like one more invocation of the iconic nature of these books and texts
as metaphors for political and religious authority. To claim greater reality or significance for the
words of texts than for their physical forms and images paradoxically enhances the unique
characteristics of texts that make them such potent icons in the first place. Books and texts have
been invested with iconic status by long and widespread usage. The fact that some become
particularly prominent in certain times and places does not mitigate the iconic function of all
texts.
[33] Therefore, we cannot avoid the symbolic import of texts, nor the fact that some texts have
greater iconic appeal than others. A society can choose which texts to pro~ote and "enshrine:"
and this is exactly what the conflict over Ten Commandments monuments IS about. At stake In
its outcome is the fundamental issue of how the United States government will represent its
relationship to various religious ideas and the many different religious groups within the
American population.
Bibliography
Academic Analyses
Flinn, Frank
2000 "Whose Commandments? Which Version?" Scripps-Howard Newservice.
Koerner, Joseph
2002 "The Icon as Iconoclasm." Pp. 204-9 in lconoclash: Beyond the Image Wars in
Science, Religion, and Art. Edited by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel. Karlsruhe:
ZKM.
Mittlebeeler, Emmet V.
2003 "Ten Commandments." P. 434 in The Encyclopedia ofAmerican Religion and
Politics. Edited by P. A. Djupe and L. R. Olson. New York: Facts on File.
Nelson, Robert S. and Margaret Olin,
2003 "Introduction." In Monuments and Memory, Made and Unmade. Edited by R. S.
Nelson and M. Olin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
News Articles
Associated Baptist Press (ABP)
August 26, 2003 "Moore: Defender of faith or dangerous demagogue?" by Robert Marus and
Greg Warner. http://www.abpnews.comlabpnewslstory.cfm?newsId=3786.
Associated Press (AP)
January 7, 2000 "Ten Commandments replacing abortion as key Christian issue, scholar
says."
htlp://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID~8836.
August 1,2001 "Alabama Chief Justice Unveils Ten Commandments in State Supreme
Court," from FoxNews. htlp://www.foxnews.com/story/0.2933.3l137.00.html.
Journal ofReligion & Society 9 6 (2004)
 October 16, 2002 "Alabama chiefjustice defends controversial monument," by Bob Johnso~
in the Athens Banner Herald.
http://www.onlineathens.comlstoriesll 01702/new 20021017071.shnnl.
August IS, 2003 "Commandments fight turns to high court," in the Athens Banner Herald.
http://www.onlineathens.comlstoriesl081603/new_20030816083 .shtrnl.
August 31, 2003 photo in the Syracuse Post-Standard.
September 10, 2003 "Alabama governor unveils Capitol display including Ten
Connnandments," by Kyle Wingfield.
http://www.ardmoreite.comlstoriesl091003/new_alabama.shtrnl#.
January 20, 2004 "City Hall Ten Commandments monument surfaces in North Carolina,"
from CNN. hnp:llwww.cnn.coml2004/US/SouthlOI/20/ten.connnandments.ap/.
February 1, 2004 "Group seeks monument condemning gay victim," in Philadelphia
Inquirer.
http://www.philly.comlmldlinquirer/newsllocallstateslpennsylvanialcountieslbuck
s_countyI7848198.btrn. _ South Bend Tribune
CBNNews
March 9, 2004 "Sekulow \Y.eighs in on Ten Commandments Battles."
, .
http.:lI~.cbn.comlCBNNewslNewsl030827b.asp.
ChristianIty TO'day
October 2003 "Editorial: God Reigns-Even in Alabama; Let's not make the Commandments
into a graven image." 47, 10: 35.
http://www.christianitytoday.comlctl2003/0 I 0/34.35.btrnl.
Cable News Nerwork (CNN)
November 14, 2003 "'Ten Commandments monument moved."
http://www.cnn.coml2003ILAW/08127/ten.connnandmentsi.
CNSNews.com
February 06, 2004 "Ten Connnandments Return to Alabama Judicial Building," by Susan
Jones.
hrrpilwww.cnsnews.comlViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C20
0402%5CNATZ0040206a.htrnl.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
August 30, 2003 "Ten Commandments: Different state, different judge, different time," by
Warren Wolfe. http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/973176/posts.
The National Conservative Weekly
November 24, 2003 "Exclusive Photo Essay: God in the Temples of Govemment," by Carrie
Devorah. http://www.humaneventsonline.comlarticle.php?id=2441.
December 19, 2003 "Exclusive Photo Essay: God in the Temples of Government: Part II," by
Carrie Devorah. http://www.humaneventsonline.comlarticle.php?id~2664.
Journal ofReligion & Society 10 6 (2004)
The New York Times
August 24, 2003 "Ten Connnandments Supporters Rally On," by Jeffrey Gettleman.
http://query.nytimes.comlgst!abstract.htrnl?res~FBOCI OFC3E5DOC778EDDA 10
894DB404482.
The Philadelphia InqUirer
April 23, 2002 "Hundreds protest shrouding of Connnandments," by Jonathan Gelb.
http://www.pbilly.comlmJdlinquirer/3l20463.hnn.
September 13,2003 "Commandments plaque will stay put in Cheseo," by Kathleen Brady
Shea.
Religion News Service
January 10, 2004 "'Alabama Ten Conunandments monument is gone, not forgotten," by Roy
Hoffman, at Seattle Times.
http://seattletirnes.nwsource.comlhtrnlllocalnewsl2001833718_tenIOm.htrnl.
August 7, 2001 "Commandments monument vandalized," by Margaret Fosmoe.
http://www.restoringamerica.orglarchivelreligionllO-conunandments-
vandalized.btrnl.
Other Web sources
Alabama Supreme Court
James v. ACLU. http://www.pcusa.orglogalarnicuslarnI7.pdf.
American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ)
"What's the Problem With Public Displays of the Ten Connnandments?" by Jay
Sekulow. http://www.aclj .org!resourceslequaVtencomm/020412_whats_the....Problem.asp.
David Black Online
"Why do Conservative Cluistians Uphold the Scriptures Yet Compr?mise o.n ~e
Constitution?" http://www.daveblackonline.com/why_do_conservatIve_chnstlans_u.hun.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE)
"Commanding Presence: Judge E. 1. Ruegemer."
http://www.foe.comlmagazinelrnarch2002lmar_07.pdf.
The Holy Land Experience
http://www.theholylandexperience.comfindex.html.
McBible.com
"Founding Fathers - Libetty Alliance Article," by Jetty Falwell (August 10,2000).
hnp:llwww.mcbible.comIMiscO/020DatalFounding%20Fathers.htm.
Metroplex Atheists
"Respect Our Constitution Rally 2000." http://www.metroplexatheists.org!roc0300.htm.
Journal ofReligion & Society 11 6 (2004)
r •

The National Constitution Center

http;lIwww.constitutioncenter.org/index.shtml.
The National Exchange Club (NEC)
"Americanism," http://www.nationalexchangeclub.comlProgramsServicela.htm.
"Exchange Marketplace."
http://exchangemarketplace.safeshopper.com/23/cat23.htm?580.
"Freedom Shrine." http://www.freedomshrine.com/defaull.htm.
Roadside America
Field of the Woods in Mwphy, North Carolina, described with pictures.
II http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attractJNCMURcommand.html.
I Suffolk Country Churches
"Decalogue, Royal Arms." http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/zdecalogue.htm.
The Ten Commandments Defense Fund
http://tencommandmentsdefense.org.
--
Townhall.com ..- ~ 6-

"The Battle fOrThe Constitution," by Cal Thomas (June 4, 2(03).

·llttp:!/~.townhall.com/columnistslcalthomas/ct20030624.shtml.
U:S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
http://www.archives.gov.
U.S. Supreme Coun "The East Pediment"
http://www.supremecounus.gov/ahout/eastpediment.pdf.
World History.com
"Heritage USA." http://www.worldhistory.com/wikilHlHeritage-USA.htm.

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Journal ofReligion & Society 12 6 (2004)