Have you been to the Supreme Court? Above the head of the Chief Justice of the United States is a representation of Moses and the Ten Commandments. Now, it is true that there are other Lawgivers represented in the frieze, but Moses has pride of place. That representation has been deemed Constitutional. If there were a representation of the Code of Hammurabi or the Athenian Laws of Solon in Alabama, we would not be having this argument, because it would be indisputably Constitutional to represent the Commandments in a secularized context. The Court could just as easily have told them how to cure the defect, rather than demanding that the representation be removed.
In another case, in Philadelphia, I believe, a court was allowed to retain the Ten Commandments because its preservation was predicated upon historic grounds, as it was an old court, and the representation was integral. Still, it was there, and did not intrinsically consitute a harmful thing, according to the court.
So I have some basis for saying that the TC is harmless, in and of itself, and for asking the question "Who caused the trouble really?"......... |
