Where the Ten Commandments belong

Who has the right to put religious monuments on public land?

Life would be simpler if the Supreme Court would ban all religious texts from government property, said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. But the court has already ruled that it's okay to commemorate the Ten Commandments' "influence in history" and "secular moral message." Now a religious group called Summum says its Seven Aphorisms are as deserving as the commandments of a spot in a Utah park. "Our message to the court: Thou shalt not turn public parks into churches."

There are plenty of churches and synagogues where the commandments can be displayed, said The New York Times in an editorial. So the court should tell the town of Pleasant Grove City, Utah, to remove a Ten Commandments memorial from its Pioneer Park, or stop denying Summum the right to put it's own monument there. Public land "must be open to all religions on an equal basis—or open to none at all."

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