A Johnson County, Tennessee man, disturbed by the courthouse Ten Commandments display, has successfully required the county to display church-state separation documents as well. The county originally disallowed Ralph Stewart's "The Ten Commandments are Not the Foundation of American Law" poster, causing Stewart to file suit since the display area had been labeled a public forum.
In a settlement with Stewart, Johnson County officials agreed to display his posters and pay his legal fees, though that's not the outcome he would have preferred.
Stewart said he would have preferred that the county simply remove the Ten Commandments plaque, but he hopes that this case will deter other counties from adopting a public forum as a way to display Christian religious texts.
"The concept that government should not be promoting a religion is such a really cool idea that we came up with, and they just don't seem to grasp that," Stewart said of local political leaders.
Governments should not try an end-run around church-state separation by claiming a public forum to promote their religious views, but if they insist, they should absolutely have to allow speech offering a different perspective.
Is it worth the $75,000 taxpayers are paying for Stewart's attorney's fees just to have the Ten Commandments displayed in the courthouse?
