Written by Don Byrd
A Ten Commandments monument on the Civic Plaza in Fargo, North Dakota may remain, according to a 2-1 ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week. Affirming the District Court, the appeals panel noted the circumstances surrounding the display in finding it constitutional.
The monument here is essentially the same as [the one found constitutional] in Van Orden v. Perry. It was donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1958. It sits passively on the Civic Plaza. It shows the Ten Commandments alongside other symbols, such as the American flag and an “all-seeing eye” within a pyramid.
Because the monument was there for so long and had “dual significance, partaking of both religion and government,” the Court ruled it not a church-state violation.
Earlier this year a judge in New Mexico ruled a Ten Commandments monument unconstitutional. Meanwhile, a lawsuit over a monument recently erected in Oklahoma is still ongoing. Want to see all the recent posts here at the BJC Blog related to Ten Commandments monuments? Click the Ten Commandments tag!
