ACLU sues Giles County over Ten Commandments display
The ACLU of Virginia today filed suit against the Giles County School Board for posting the Ten Commandments on the wall at Narrows High School in Narrows, Virginia. The lawsuit contends that the display violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Ten Commandments is posted on a main hallway at the high school, near the trophy case and on the way to the cafeteria, where it can be seen by students every day. It is surrounded by historical documents relating to American history, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Star-Spangled Banner, and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
The lawsuit was filed today on behalf of a Narrows High School student, suing under the name Doe 1, and the student’s parent, suing under the name Doe 2. The plaintiffs do not want to use their real name because they fear retaliation from community members who have displayed scorn and anger toward those who have complained about the Ten Commandments display.
The complaint explains that the Ten Commandments display makes Doe 1 feel like an outsider in his own school, because the school is endorsing religious beliefs to which he does not subscribe. Doe 1′s parent, Doe 2, objects to the display because it usurps the parent’s right to control the religious education of Doe 1.
“The Ten Commandments were clearly placed in Giles County public schools to promote religion, and that violates the First Amendment of the Constitution,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. “School board members cannot camouflage their religious purpose by hiding the Ten Commandments among other documents.”
For years, Giles County schools posted a framed copy of the Ten Commandments along with the U.S. Constitution, but after complaints from the Freedom From Religion Foundation last fall, the school superintendent ordered them taken down. The school board, however, in a meeting attended by 200 residents urging restoration of the display, voted to overturn the superintendent’s decision. Only after the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened litigation did the school board reverse itself and order the Ten Commandments taken down again. Then, in June, the school board authorized the posting of the Ten Commandments with historical documents. However, Narrows High School is the only school so far to post the display.
“Schools best respect religious freedom when they allow students to express their religious beliefs, but refrain from expressing religious opinions of their own,” said Willis. “That is not what has happened here.”
Groups threaten suit if Giles County reposts Ten Commandments in schools
The ACLU of Virginia and the Freedom From Religion Foundation today warned the Giles County School Board not to follow through with a proposal to mount displays featuring the Ten Commandments and several historical documents in public schools. The two religious rights groups say they intend to file a lawsuit challenging the displays if they are authorized by the school board.
“The Ten Commandments were clearly placed in Giles County public schools to promote religion, and that violates the First Amendment of the Constitution,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. “School board members can’t now camouflage their religious purpose by hiding the Ten Commandments among other documents.”
According to recent news reports, the school board is voting on June 7 on whether to post in all schools displays that would include the Ten Commandments, the Bill of Rights, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Mayflower Compact, the Magna Carta, Lady Justice, and the National Anthem.
For years, Giles County schools posted side-by-side copies of the Ten Commandments and the U.S. Constitution, but after complaints from the Freedom From Religion Foundation last fall, the school superintendent ordered them taken down. The school board, however, in a meeting attended by 200 residents urging restoration of the display, voted to overturn the superintendent’s decision. Only after the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened litigation did the school board reverse itself and order the Ten Commandments taken down again.
In the letter emailed this morning, ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg and Freedom From Religion Foundation Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott note that the Ten Commandments has sometimes been allowed in public buildings when it is part of a secular display. However, the courts have made it clear that when such displays have a religious purpose, they are unconstitutional. The courts have been especially sensitive to such displays in public schools, where government promotion of religion is most strictly prohibited.
ACLU: Giles County posting of Ten Commandments is violation
The ACLU of Virginia on Friday objected to a decision by the Giles County School Board to re-post the Ten Commandments in public schools, and says it will consider legal action.
“This action flies in the face of both strong legal precedents and our fundamental notions of what religious equality means in the United States,” said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis.
“When the government promotes one faith, whether it is through the Ten Commandments or other religious documents,” added Willis, “it automatically diminishes all other faiths. Religious equality is an empty principle if something as powerful and influential as a school board is allowed to impose its religious views on the students who attend the schools under its jurisdiction.”
For at least the last ten years, large framed versions of the Ten Commandments hung in all five Giles County public schools, next to a copy of the Constitution. After the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Wisconsin complained last month that the documents violated the First Amendment’s mandate for separation of church and state, the copies of the Ten Commandments were removed and replaced with copies of the Declaration of Independence.
But yesterday, at a meeting attended by more than 200 county residents who objected to the removal of the Ten Commandments, the school board voted unanimously to put them on the school walls.
In doing so, the school board ignored not only clear U.S. Supreme Court precedents but also acted against the advice of its attorney and the school superintendent’s earlier decision to remove the Ten Commandments.
“After government officials hear from organizations like the ACLU,” said Willis “they typically consult with their own attorneys. When legal advisors on their own payroll support our position, that solves the problem then and there. What is unusual about this situation is that Giles County School Board members are ignoring advice from their own attorney.”
Willis added: “There are some circumstances in which the Ten Commandments may be temporarily displayed in a public school, such as when they are part of a large exhibit about the development of laws and mores throughout history. But that is not the case here.”
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
