Georgia bill proposes to allow Ten Commandments display in public

[Thom Little]

Legislators have proposed a bill that could allow the Barrow County display of the Ten Commandments to return to the county courthouse.

House Bill 941, sponsored by state Reps. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, and Terry England, R-Auburn, would permit counties to display historical documents on public property. The bill, also co-sponsored by state Rep. Timothy Bearden, R-Villa Rica, was pre-filed this month before the General Assembly session that will reopen in January.

The proposal comes after previous controversy concerning the courthouse and the Ten Commandments. In 2002, a Ten Commandments plaque was displayed at the courthouse but the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in 2003 on behalf of an anonymous Barrow County resident to have it removed.

.......

England said the bill would allow counties to freely display historical documents "without threat from the ACLU for their every action," England said.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GA_TEN_COMMANDMENTS_GAOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-11-28-09-32-00

[LiberalFighter]

1. I guess they don't believe that Constitution supercedes their laws

[merwin]

2. Unless that ten commandments document is 2000 years old,

it has no historical value.

[sui generis]

3. cool. The balkanization of the U.S.

If you cross into Georgia you HAVE to get out of the car and bow three times to the east while grabbing your left nut and gargling peanut butter.

Our laws are not based on the ten commandments. If they were, we would have no Wicca and atheists, and we would all be REQUIRED to be christians, and not JUST christians but one of THOSE kinds of christians.

Oh, I see. That's the point.

Freak bastards.

[CottonBear]

4. Goddamn Barrow County just will not fucking give up.

The KKK was (is) big in Barrow County. The KK used to meet (not in robes and hoods, mind you!) and recruit new members at the McDonalds in Winder (the county seat). White, fundy racists are in common there.

Barrow is directly west of my county. The county has already spent well over $200,000 in legal fees defending their actions and had to take down the stupid commandments. They also refused to allow displays of other religous laws like those those from the Koran and various Eastern religions.

[tx_dem41]

5. I would need to know more about the context of the display, but...

this could very well pass SCOTUS muster.

http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1500.ZS.html

[CottonBear]

7. See my post #6. The 10 commandments are not a "historic document."

I leave near freaking Barrow County. They have been fighting this battle for years now. The fundies are fucking cowards. Suddenly one day, a few years ago, a plaque appeared on the wall of the courthouse. It was posted by an anonymous person. The county (commissioners) allowed it to remain. They are such coward bastards that no one will say they posted the plaque. Then, the person, on whose behalf the ACLU filed the original lawsuit, had to remain anonymopus in order to not be run out of Barrow County or threatened physically.

[CottonBear]

6. The ten commandments are in no way a historical document

like the Mayflower Compact of 1620, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

The commandments are part of a religous text and have no legal bearing in our system of law.

[sonicx]

8. Georgia has over 1 million people without health insurance

Nice to see they have their priorities straight.

[pop goes the weasel]

9. Cool!

I can hardly wait to see them add in other historic documents! When will they install Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists?