Written by Don Byrd
The grounds of a public high school is no place for a religious monument. In New Kensington, Pennsylvania, a Ten Commandments monument is being removed as part of a settlement to a lawsuit charging the display violates the separation of church and state.
After fighting for years, the school district finally ended the dispute after finding a more suitable spot for it: a religious school. Trib Total Media reports:
“It’s with mixed emotions that the district, as you know, conceded and agreed to move the monument for a number of reasons,” [school board President Robert] Pallone said. “But I’m proud to tell you today that the monument will be relocated. … It will remain in the community and it will be highly visible.
“For those of us who acknowledge the worth of the Ten Commandments, they will be present. For those that don’t see the value in the Ten Commandments, they can turn the other cheek, as we learn in the Bible.”
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Bishop Edward Malesic, leader of the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, has already agreed to the transfer of the monument, Pallone said.
“You will see that monument will be on display forever,” Robert Pallone, school board president said.
The move also allows the school district to avoid paying “exorbitant damages.” So, the Ten Commandments found a more suitable home and the taxpayers were protected at the same time.
Public schools are not only funded by the public, they are designed to provide an education to children of all religious backgrounds. All students should feel welcome, and should not have to feel marginalized by their faith just to attend school. A religious monument on school property risks doing just that.
