Are Ten Commandments displays constitutional?
The General Assembly passed House Bill 702, a billed I sponsored, to allow private funding for a monument on the Capitol grounds to display the Ten Commandments, the Georgia Constitution’s preamble and part of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Some contend this is a groundbreaking religious statement that violates the Constitution.
While the Georgia Supreme Court has no recent ruling on religious displays, Georgia has a long Judeo-Christian tradition that allows free expression of religious faith. A 1921 state Supreme Court case involved a Rome ordinance requiring daily Bible readings and prayer. The court affirmed the responsibility of the school system to do so. In the majority opinion on Wilkerson vs. City of Rome, Judge Gilbert cited numerous historical facts and court cases regarding religious freedom going back to colonial days.
Gilbert argued that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution couldn’t possibly have been attributed to atheism. He quoted Benjamin Franklin: “I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid?”
This quote came as Franklin was defending his resolution to have a daily, clergy-led prayer service as delegates deliberated the Constitution. Apparently, religion was uppermost in the minds of our Founding Fathers. The first part of the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The first provision prohibits state-established churches as existed in England; the second assures a right to freely practice your religion.
The term “separation of church and state” is nowhere in the Constitution, yet it’s been cited in numerous court cases since 1947. (The term came from a Thomas Jefferson letter assuring the Danbury Baptists the state would not interfere with their religious liberty.)
Federal court cases since then have been all over the map on what the First Amendment requires. However, they’ve been consistently clear the Ten Commandments can be included as part of a historical display. Few would argue their clear influence on our legal system and our history.
The Ten Commandments are on the U.S. Supreme Court building, the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress rotunda and the National Archives, and they are posted on the wall of our Georgia Capitol. A monument to the basis of our legal system would be an honorable addition to the collection of historical monuments on the grounds. Maybe a display will inspire and remind our citizens, legislators and government workers not to lie, steal or kill. Or maybe not, since no one will be forced to read or practice them.
And that’s religious liberty.
State Rep. Greg Morris, R-Vidalia, represents District 156.
