12:16 pm Lawmakers trying to allow displays of commandments
NASHVILLE (AP) — Two Republican state legislators are pushing a measure aimed at allowing local governments to display the Ten Commandments in county courthouses or on public grounds in Tennessee.
Sen. Mike Bell of Riceville and Rep. Matthew Hill of Jonesboro have introduced a bill authorizing counties and cities to set up displays of historical documents and monuments and writings “recognized to commemorate freedom and the rich history of Tennessee and the United States.”
The proposed list includes the Ten Commandments, England’s Magna Carta, the Pilgrims’ Mayflower Compact, the U.S. Constitution, the Tennessee Constitution and “other such historically significant documents.”
Bell told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that such displays should withstand legal challenges (http://bit.ly/wLKYBl ).
Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said such displays are constitutionally questionable.
“They (proponents) assume that the Ten Commandments had something to do with the founding of the United States, and that’s absolutely false,” he said.
Lynn said Protestants, Catholics and Jews use different versions of the Ten Commandments, and he said five commandments have no connection to state or federal laws.
“We don’t make it illegal to covet your neighbor’s SUV,” Lynn said. “We don’t make it illegal to be un-nice to your parents.”
Suzanna Sherry, a Vanderbilt University School of Law professor, said the legality of such displays “depends on exactly the context” in which governments act to install them.
“This is a really difficult question, and the Supreme Court has visited it and visited it a number of times,” Sherry said.
Bell said he introduced the Senate companion bill at Hill’s request. He said if Hill succeeds in passing his measure, he will proceed in the Senate.
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