c. 2005 Religion News Service

Editors: Following are excerpts of reactions to the Supreme Court’s twin decisions on the Ten Commandments on Monday (June 27). The high court upheld Ten Commandments monuments on public land but not in courthouses.

“These rulings are a victory for a sensible and moderate approach to the Constitution’s protection of religious liberty and defeat for the extremists of both political poles.”

_ Nathan Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

“The decisions today solve nothing. Current Ten Commandments display cases … will now proceed as this court picks and chooses which displays offend them and which they deem worthy.”

_ Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council

“Governments routinely celebrate cultural diversity, and religious elements are unavoidably a part of that _ they shouldn’t be singled out for special exclusion.”

_ Jared Leland, legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

“I think that this is a sign of a turning in the thinking of the court. Up until now the court was really starting to exhibit a consistent hostility toward any religious expression in public places. This seems to indicate a change in that direction. And we consider that a really hopeful sign.”

_ The Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action

“The problem is what’s next? If you can put the Ten Commandments on public property, maybe you can put a cross on public property.”

_ Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists

“We won more than we lost. And I think that many displays, including any that take place in our government-funded schools, will now be clearly forbidden.”

_ The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State

“With this abominable ruling, you would expect to hear hammers and chisels resurfacing the Court’s own walls and doors that display Moses and the Commandments.”

_ Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America

“There is a religious witch hunt under way, one which has infected virtually every level of our government. It is nothing less than historical revisionism to try to use the First Amendment as an excuse to scrub away all governmental reference to the Ten Commandments and our Judeo-Christian heritage.”

_ James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family Action

“It is worthy of reflection that four justices were prepared to reject wholesale the court’s 60-year-old commitment to a constitutional requirement that government express no official preference for religion over non-religion.”

_ Marc Stern, general counsel for American Jewish Congress

“I am sure it will come as a surprise to the many people of genuine faith in Texas _ Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Jews, Unitarians, Presbyterians etc. _ when they discover that their state has adopted a Lutheran version of the Ten Commandments as the official Ten Commandments of the state. This is an offense to people of all faiths who do not consider the Ten Commandments to be a holy text.”

_ Paul Finkelman, visiting fellow at the Center for Inquiry, home of the Council for Secular Humanism

“The Supreme Court took a schizophrenic approach to the role of religion in public life with these two decisions, creating confusion where none should exist.”

_ Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch

“The Founders would be outraged that we are even debating the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments. That the Ten Commandments would be deemed unconstitutional is an insult to the Constitution, to our shared religious history and to our veterans from whose blood liberty was birthed.”

_ Mathew D. Staver, president of Liberty Counsel

“If this came to a vote down here, it wouldn’t be an issue; we’d have the Ten Commandments posted in the courthouse in Somerset. These people don’t understand how we live, and they probably don’t care. What’s frustrating is that as a county, we’ve voted for the people who put them into office, and yet they’ve gone against how we live and believe. It’s very disappointing.”

_ Monica Wallace, staff member of Beacon Hill Baptist Church in Somerset, Ky.

“It doesn’t bother me that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a public place. What is important is that people believe and are living the tenets of Christianity.”

_ The Rev. Larry Ping, pastor of Lakeside Church of Christ in Somerset, Ky.

_ Correspondents Nancy Glass and Dennis P. O’Connor contributed to this report.

KRE/JL END RNS

Editors: See main story, RNS-SCOTUS-TEN, transmitted June 27, 2005.