Where the Ten Commandments belong

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."

Not exactly, said The Washington Post in an editorial. If someone wanted to erect the Ten Commandments monument today it would be okay to stop them, but the display in Pioneer Park has been there for nearly four decades. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution doesn't require "that all religiously tinged monuments" on public land be torn down. So "the mere existence of such monuments" shouldn't "require governments to erect new ones."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up