When I went to school, the Ten Commandments were posted in the classroom, and the teacher led us in the Lord’s Prayer before we went to lunch. There was respect throughout society for the Word of God. How times have changed! Today, everything related to God and His Word is coming under fire in our nation. On Tuesday the ?#?Oklahoma? Supreme Court ruled that a 6-foot-tall Ten Commandments monument on the capitol grounds must be removed. Governor Mary Fallin supported the monument and is looking at other legal options to keep it there—I hope she finds some. We’re living in a time when our country is not only blatantly defying God’s laws, but is trying to remove them completely from public view. Just think what a difference it would make if our school children today learned about the ?#?TenCommandments? and the God who wrote them. ~ Franklin Graham
The 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter) stone monument, paid for with private money and supported by lawmakers in the socially conservative state, was installed in 2012, prompting complaints that it violated the U.S. Constitution’s provisions against government establishment of religion, as well as local laws.
In a 7-2 decision, the court said the placement of the monument violated a section in the state’s constitution, which says no public money or property can be used either directly or indirectly for the “benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion.”
The court in its decision said: “As concerns the ‘historic purpose’ justification, the Ten Commandments are obviously religious in nature and are an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths.”
Lawmakers have argued that the monument was not serving a religious purpose but was meant to mark a historical event.
That opened the door for other groups, including Satanists and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, to apply for permission to erect their own monuments on Capitol grounds to mark what they say are historical events.
Governor Mary Fallin, a Republican who supported the monument’s placement, was disappointed with the decision and will consult with the attorney general to look at legal options, her office said.
In March, a U.S. judge dismissed a case filed by an atheist group that was seeking to remove the monument from State Capitol grounds, saying the plaintiffs failed to show standing to bring the suit. (Reporting by Heide Brandes; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Beech)