This time in Oklahoma.
===
Commandments Draw 300 to Okla. Courthouse
Sun Nov 20, 6:49 PM ET
A group of pastors fired up a crowd of more than 300 people during a
rally around a monument engraved with the Ten Commandments on the
Haskell County Courthouse lawn.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn spoke Saturday at the gathering in favor of the
monument, which a recent American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit says is
a sign of the government favoring one religion over another.
But Coburn and others who were vocal at the rally contend that the
statements listed in the Ten Commandments are guidelines to a moral,
law-abiding society regardless of religious beliefs.
"I wish this was in every courthouse on the lawn," said Coburn, R-Okla.
"We need more of this, not less."
Jim Green, the Stigler resident who is the plaintiff in the ACLU case,
was contacted by telephone and declined to comment because of the
ongoing litigation.
The suit is the first of its kind in Oklahoma since a July ruling by the
U.S. Supreme Court that Ten Commandments displays on government property
are not inherently unconstitutional.
The eight-by-three-foot granite slab contains the Ten Commandments on
one side and the text of the Mayflower Compact on the reverse. It stands
just to the side of a sidewalk leading up to the front steps of the
courthouse.
Mike Bush, the Stigler pastor who was instrumental in raising money to
construct the display, said in the last two weeks about 2,835 signatures
have been collected in a petition supporting the monument.
"My heart is thankful to see so many people coming out," Bush said. "All
our laws are based on the 10 laws up here on our courthouse lawn."
Tim Turner, pastor of a Eufaula church, told the crowd that the problem
isn't in Stigler, where there is apparently overwhelming support for the
Ten Commandments at the courthouse. The problem is in Washington, D.C.,
where politicians and judges make separation of church and state
decisions for the nation, he said.
"Today is just a little rally," Turner said. "The real battle is coming."
After the formal speeches, the floor was opened to anybody wishing to
share their thoughts.
Wyvonne Bollinger stood up and told the crowd about her son, Doyle
Bollinger Jr., who died in Iraq in June of 2003. She said he joined the
military to guard America and its values, many of which are expressed on
the courthouse monument.
"If we don't believe in the Ten Commandments, we don't believe in
anything," Bollinger said. "It's what protects us."
In an interview, Coburn said the Ten Commandments are not strictly a
Christian belief system, even though they come from the Bible. He also
disagreed with the idea that people who practice a different religion
might be intimidated by the Ten Commandments when they enter the Haskell
County Courthouse.
"We can either deny our heritage . . . or we can embrace that heritage,"
Coburn said. "The creators of our Constitution were men of faith."
---
http://tinyurl.com/cfcbj
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
.
|
