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The United States Supreme Court Upholds the Public Display of the Ten Commandments in Public Parks

by Staff
March 4, 2009

WASHINGTON, (christiansunite.com) -- In a landmark 9-0 decision, the Court ruled the City of Pleasant Grove, Utah does not have to remove a Ten Commandments display from a public park.

This paves the way for states, cities and counties to display the Ten Commandments without fear of expensive and massive lawsuits. This includes the City of Boise.

The case also affirms the basic position of the Keep the Commandments Coalition in their fight to keep the Ten Commandments in Julia Davis Park in Boise, Idaho.

That position was the City of Boise had the right to determine what kinds of monuments and displays were put in their public parks and they did not have to remove the Ten Commandments because of a threatened lawsuit by extremist Fred Phelps.

The City of Boise, Idaho sponsored the nation's first voter initiative on the public display of the Ten Commandments in 2006.

The Keep the Commandments Coalition will hold a news conference on Tuesday, February 25 at 2:00 P.M.

The location of the news conference will be in Julia Davis Park at the location of the old Ten Commandments monument.

Brandi Swindell, President of Stanton Healthcare and co-founder of Keep the Commandments Coalition, states, "We applaud the Supreme Court for this landmark unanimous decision on the First Amendment. This 9-0 decision affirms the position that the Keep the Commandments Coalition has maintained from the very start of this issue. That is the City of Boise had the right to decide what kind of monuments can be put in City parks and public places and they did not have to remove the Ten Commandments because of a threatened lawsuit by hatemonger Fred Phelps.

"This decision vindicates the Keep the Commandments Coalition and the tens of thousands of people who believed in preserving the public display of the timeless values of the Ten Commandments and protecting a valuable part of Boise's history.

"This is a huge victory for all Americans who believe in religious freedom regardless of their faith tradition.

"Sadly, Mayor Bieter and the Boise City Council wrongly removed the Ten Commandments without even holding a public hearing. They also turned down free legal help from the American Center for Law and Justice. This is the same group that won this historic case.

"After this landmark Supreme Court decision, the Mayor and the City Council owe the citizens of Boise an apology for misleading the public on the reasons why they removed the monument.

"The Keep the Commandments Coalition is meeting to discuss options for returning the monument back to its rightful place in Julia Davis Park."

Said Keep the Commandment Co-Director Bryan Fischer, "This shows how weak-willed and premature Boise's city council was in removing the Ten Commandments monument from Julia Davis Park in 2004.

"Alan Shealy and Mayor David Bieter cravenly capitulated to Fred Phelps. Why they would allow a hatemonger from Topeka, Kansas to dictate pubic policy to Boise, Idaho in the first place is a mystery to me.

"And today's ruling shows that their spineless act was totally unnecessary. As a result of their cowardice, a piece of Boise's cultural history has been removed from public display and virtually hidden behind foliage on private property.

"We call on St. Michael's Episcopal Cathedral to donate the Ten Commandments monument back to the city of Boise so it can be returned to its proper home in Julia Davis Park. The monument was not donated to a church, it was donated to the city of Boise, and it ought to go back to the place where it stood for 39 years."

Also present at the news conference will be the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington, D.C. Rev. Mahoney has been a leading advocate for the public display of the Ten Commandments across the nation.

Rev. Mahoney worked with Chief Justice Roy Moore to keep the Ten Commandments in Montgomery, Alabama and has been active here in Boise to keep the Ten Commandments in Julia Davis Park and was also at the Supreme Court when the case was argued.

http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion08089.shtml

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