Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Is yet another part of the Bill of Rights about to fall?

Most of the 10 Commandments violate U.S. Constitution, atheists say in Oklahoma suit (Click on this heading to read more)

By Travis Gettys
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 9:26 EST
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An atheist group has sued Oklahoma lawmakers over a law allowing religious displays on the increasingly crowded Capitol grounds.
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State officials set up a Ten Commandments monument in 2012, which has spurred other religious groups - including Satanists, Hindus and Pastafarians - to request permission to set up their own displays.
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The ACLU filed suit in August, claiming the state law permitting those displays violated Oklahoma's state constitution, and the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission imposed a moratorium on all monuments on the grounds.
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A Republican lawmaker has pushed for a new bill that would allow more "historical documents," including the Ten Commandments, to be placed on public grounds in Oklahoma.
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But a suit filed Monday by American Atheists argues that the displays and the law that permits their display violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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"I want to be clear about this: We have a religious monument, placed on government property, by government mandate," said American Atheists President David Silverman. "That is an explicit violation of First Amendment protections of separation of religion and government."
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Silverman pointed out that Oklahoma lawmakers had passed a law requiring the monument endorse one specific religion, which he said violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
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"There is now a law, on the books of Oklahoma, respecting the establishment of Christianity, which is grossly unconstitutional," Silverman said. "The legislature has broken the law, plain and simple, and we are suing to right this wrong."

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