Unlike Alabama, Other States Embrace Displays of Faith - 14 Nov 2003
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...While a federal judge and state authorities in Alabama have concluded Roy Moore has no right to place a Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building, officials in other states are taking a very different view on such displays. A federal court in Texas has given its blessing to a public Ten Commandments display; and at police headquarters in New York City, a display of the Qu'ran has been deemed to be just fine. In Austin, Texas, a federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit demanding removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the Texas State Capitol grounds. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the state's contention that the six-foot-tall granite monument is more historical than religious, with key segments of law founded upon the Commandments' cultural ethics and morality. That just happens to be the same argument that Roy Moore made in Alabama. Meanwhile, in New York City, a Muslim chaplain with the police department has placed a copy of the Qu'ran in the lobby of the headquarters building. It is contained in a glass tube atop a brass pedestal to coincide with the Muslim Ramadan period which began October 27. WorldNetDaily quotes an official with the American Civil Liberties Union who says the display is likely a violation of the Constitution -- but there is no indication in the report that her organization plans to take the matter to court. |