Written by Don Byrd
Earlier this week, a federal judge in Pennsylvania refused to dismiss a challenge to a Ten Commandments monument in the Kensington-Arnold School District. The decision means the suit arguing the monument violates the separation of church and state will continue.
The district’s position is that the monument, donated by the New Kensington branch of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in the late 1950s in connection with the release of “The Ten Commandments” movie, is a historic landmark with secular components that should be allowed to remain.
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“Establishment Clause challenges are all unique and driven by the particular facts of the case,” [Judge] McVerry wrote in Tuesday’s order. “(Through the discovery phase), the parties will have ample opportunity to build a sufficient factual record that permits this Court to meaningfully apply the decisional law to this difficult, context-driven task.”
If the Supreme Court has clearly said anything about the constitutionality of Ten Commandments monuments it’s this: context matters. If the intent or message of the display is to promote religion, it is improper, regardless of how long it has been there, or who donated it.
