“The Ten Commandments Are Not the Foundation of American Law”

A few days ago Americans United, a group “committed to church-state separation and individual freedom” announced that a settlement was made in the case Stewart v. Johnson County, Tennessee. Ralph Stewart got the attention of the court when he sued the Johnson County Commission after their decision to refuse him the right to display his literature about the historic role of church and state separation in American law within the lobby of the county courthouse. The county had created a limited public forum in which individuals or organizations can donate displays that “directly relate to the development of law…” The items did not need to secular as evident with the Ten Commandments and a 26-page pamphlet entitled “From Biblical Morality to Modern Law” already present within the display. The county declined to include Stewart’s literature, “On the Local Heritage on the Separation of Church and State” and “The Ten Commandments Are Not the Foundation of American Law” on the grounds that it did not fall within the subject matter of public forum. The settlement was in favor of Stewart and required the Johnson County Commission to display the posters in a prominent place, payment of $75,000 in legal fees, and a modification to its policy to establish that county commissioners may not reject a display because they dislike the content.

The constitutionality of the county’s actions is in question. Did they violate the establishment clause by solely allowing Christian material to be publically displayed within the courthouse? In my opinion yes they did. Although Stewart’s literature may lean towards being non-religious rather than solely secular, it still deserves equal representation within the governmental display. “I’d prefer for government to stay out of the business of promoting religious documents altogether,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “But if government officials choose to go down this path, they must at least play fair and treat all citizens equally.” By allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed but not allowing literature that opposes this viewpoint and credits the common and statuary law of England to be the basis of American law benefits Christianity over non-religion.

In my opinion Johnson County decided to settle on this case rather than see it out because they knew they were in the wrong by allowing an official to disallow equal representation based upon their personal religious views. Stewart’s presentation clearly fell within the “subject matter of the public forum” by utilizing many of the same historical sources of the other Christian displays. Due to the apparent favoritism towards the religion the county decided to settle and alter the requirements for future displays. The settlement requires all rejections to be accompanied with a written explanation with valid reason not simply because commissioners don’t like the content. County officials also included a disclaimer stating that the “displays are sponsored by private citizens, not the county” to hopefully alleviate and future legal trouble.