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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: laura_bush who wrote (492075)	11/13/2003 2:46:01 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

I notice that you were gone for 6 weeks yourself.

To: laura_bush who wrote (492075)	11/13/2003 5:06:28 PM
From: Rick McDougall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Jim Cramer

To: laura_bush who wrote (492075)	11/13/2003 5:24:30 PM
From: SecularBull	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

Federal Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of Texas Attorney General; Ten Commandments Can Remain At Texas Capitol 5th Circuit Court of Appeals finds no establishment of religion in placement of monument AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today applauded a New Orleans federal appeals court decision affirming the state's argument that placement of a Ten Commandments monument on the State Capitol grounds is not an unconstitutional attempt to establish a state-sponsored religion. In making the ruling late Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the Attorney General that, when taken on the whole with other aspects of the state's heritage, culture and legal codes, the Ten Commandments monument does not reflect an attempt to coerce a religious belief on the public, or exclude other beliefs. The court described the variety of memorials present on the Capitol grounds, all of which convey the sense of the grounds as a museum, overseen by a curator. "The Ten Commandments are undoubtedly a sacred religious text, but they are also a foundational document in the development of Western legal codes and culture," Attorney General Abbott stated. "The Texas monument has stood for over forty years, and the court's decision affirms that the monument is entirely consistent with the requirements of the U.S. Constitution," he added. In 1961 the Fraternal Order of Eagles donated the six-foot red granite monument to the state as a way to combat juvenile delinquency and promote a personal code of conduct for youths, resulting in "liberty, peace and justice." The court found that the Texas Legislature's intent in accepting the monument was to commend the Eagles for their efforts in fighting juvenile delinquency, a secular concern. The original plaintiff in this case, Thomas van Orden, had argued that by accepting such a gift, the state had directly endorsed a religion favoring the Jewish and Christian faiths to the exclusion of other faiths. But in upholding lower court decisions, the appellate court ruled that the state's placement of this monument "on a direct line between the legislative chambers, the executive office of the governor and the (Texas) Supreme Court building" links it with those houses of law "while standing apart and not physically connected to any of them. (The Ten Commandments monument) is presented as relevant to these law-giving instruments of state government, but from a distance."