Nation - Georgia Display of Ten Commandments in courthouse ignores state statute Law requires other historical documents be shown as well

By Russ Bynum Associated Press Writer REIDSVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- With the blessing of local officials, members of a Baptist church came to the Tattnall County courthouse last week with a hammer, nails and a large framed copy of the Ten Commandments they hung inside near the entrance. What nobody seemed to realize is that a 2006 state law, which authorizes posting the biblical text in government buildings, also says this: Thou shalt not display the Ten Commandments by themselves. This rural southeast Georgia county's top official and the church's pastor both insist it was an honest oversight rather than an act of righteous defiance. Though months of planning went into the display, nobody actually read the law. "We're not as much politically minded as we are God-fearing public servants," said Frank Murphy, who serves as chairman of the county commission when he's not working his other two jobs: selling propane and driving a school bus. "We hadn't researched the law. There's so many other things going on in a day here." The issue became a church-state battleground in the Bible belt after Roy Moore, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, was removed from office in 2003 for refusing to remove a granite Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Commandments displays in two Kentucky courthouses, ruling they appeared to be a government endorsement of Christianity. Georgia lawmakers responded the following year with a law saying the Ten Commandments could be legally displayed in a historical context as long as they were accompanied by eight other specific documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. Confusing? Murphy said the only thing he remembered after the Georgia law was adopted was that it authorized displaying the Ten Commandments as a historical document. Period. Murphy, after The Associated Press asked him about the display, said county officials would add the supporting documents required by state law. Until then, he said, he has no intention of taking the Ten Commandments down. Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said officials should remove the framed Commandments as long as they stand alone. "As it hangs now, it is a message to all non-Christians, and Christians, in Tattnall County that justice may not be equal and some people may not be as equal as others under the law," she said. That's also how Dwight Brooks, pastor of Ella Grove Baptist Church, said his congregation of 65 worshippers approached Tattnall County officials last year and got their permission for a Commandments display. Brooks said the church paid several hundred dollars to have the text printed and framed before church members hung it in the courthouse Friday. "Our position is God's law over man's law," Brooks said. "But we're not quick to want to rebel against any civil government at all." About a dozen local governments in Georgia have opted to post the Ten Commandments and other required documents in courthouses, city halls and community centers since the law was passed, said Michael Griffin, director of Ten Commandments Georgia, a nonprofit group that promotes the displays and helps government officials obtain the necessary pieces. He said four or five more local governments are preparing to post their displays soon. In Tattnall County, where three state prisons and fields of Georgia's famous sweet onions form the economic backbone for 22,500 people, the Ten Commandments aren't likely to raise much fuss about religious intrusion into government affairs. The county has more than 60 churches -- and just one liquor store in Reidsville, its largest city. And the courthouse isn't the only place to feature the Ten Commandments here. Grady Lewis, who owns Shady Grady's general store across the street, has a hand-painted Ten Commandments placard hung below his cash register. "The Ten Commandments overrules everything," said Lewis, puffing Winstons behind a counter cluttered with men's cologne, pocket knives and neatly folded American flags, "because that's out of the Bible." Published: Thu, Feb 11, 2010

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