By Billy Hallowell | From TheBlaze.com | On May 8th, 2012

The Ten Commandments is at the center of yet another heated debate. This time, the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is taking a local school district to task over the display of the Commandments inside of Narrows High School in Narrows, Virginia.

ACLU Sues Over 10 Commandments Display at Narrows High School in Virginia

Similar to the case over a prayer mural in Cranston, Rhode Island, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of a student (who, along with his or her family will remain anonymous, as per a judge’s order) who wants to see the display removed. The basis of the complaint is familiar: The presence, those opposed to it contend, illustrates a government endorsement of religion and is, thus, unconstitutional.

The Giles County School District, of which Narrows High School is a part, is being represented by Liberty Counsel, a Christian non-profit law group that is claiming that the presence of the display is, in fact, perfectly legal. The debate over the presence of the Ten Commandments began back in 2010 when the Freedom From Religion Foundation first received complaints about it. Inevitably, the ACLU got involved.

After the initial complaints surrounding the Ten Commandments, the list of moral elements to follow was apparently removed and re-posted a number of times. In the end, it was made part of a larger display of historical documents that have shaped American history, the ACLU claims.

“This action flies in the face of both strong legal precedents and our fundamental notions of what religious equality means in the United States,” the ACLU said in a national statement. ”When the government promotes one faith, whether it is through the Ten Commandments or other religious documents, it automatically diminishes all other faiths.”

But Mathew Staver, who serves as dean of Liberty University School of Law and the chairman of the Liberty Counsel, counters this argument by claiming that the Ten Commandments has every right to be displayed. Staver says that it is perfectly protected as a portion of a grander historical setting alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

On Monday, federal Judge Michael Urbanski ordered all parties to discuss the future of the Ten Commandments in mediation. If, indeed, a solution cannot be reached, then the case will return to court. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph has more:

A federal court judge ordered mediation Monday for the parties involved in a lawsuit about whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed at a Giles County high school.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael F. Urbanski with the U.S. District Court in Roanoke ordered the Giles County School Board and the unnamed student and parent into mediation to see if a compromise can be reached over the display of the biblical texts.

The Liberty Counsel, which is representing the Giles County School Board, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which is representing the unidentified student and parents, will meet with a magistrate judge during the mediation period. If no decision is made during mediation, the case will return to court.

But Urbanski also made a curious recommendation to help alleviate tensions and to find a potential middle ground. Rather than keeping all 10 commandments, he suggested removing the first four and simply leaving the remaining six. Why, you ask? Well, the first few codes are religious in nature, whereas the final six are far more secular.

“If indeed this issue is not about God, why wouldn’t it make sense for Giles County to say, ‘Let’s go back and just post the bottom six?’” Urbanski asked during the proceedings. ”But if it’s really about God, then they wouldn’t be willing to do that.”

We’ll have to wait and see what solution the two parties come to in the coming weeks.

The original article was posted at http://www.theblaze.com/stories/judge-suggests-stripping-10-commandments-down-to-6-to-remove-religious-elements-in-aclu-led-lawsuit/

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RSOP is the co-founder & Executive Editor of Radical Survivalism Webzine, as well as a Family Preparedness Consultant with over seven years of personal experience in the self-reliance game. RSOP's many preparedness roles within his own group include team mechanic, head of security, electrician, and project designer/engineer.

1 thought on “Judge Suggests Stripping 10 Commandments Down to 6…

  1. Seriously, I have just one thing to say. Raise your right hand, “Do you swear to tell the truth,and nothing but the truth so help you God?” NO!

    Our founding fathers had a strong belief in our creator “God”,it’s in our constitution, it’s in the first paragraph! This judge was appointed by Obama, so this really should be no surprise! This is another poke in the eye to Christianity. Had this been another religion’s document, there would have been no fuss, about anything. The ACLU should be disbanded, and any and all judges who wish to discard our Christian roots, and our Constitution, should be taken out and horse whipped… or at the very least FIRED!

    And as far as the little girl and her parents: If you don’t like what the school has posted “Historical Documents”, I suggest you place her in another school while you still have that freedom, and if that doesn’t satisfy you. Better yet, pack your crap and move to another country!

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