For 82 years, this roughly 3 foot by 5 foot bronze plaque was displayed on the facade of what is currently my county courthouse in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
The plaque, which recites the King James version of The Ten Commandments, was a gift from the Council of Religious Education of the Federated Churches of West Chester, an organization that, admittedly, promotes religious study and education. But the text arguably reflects many of the principles upon which our country's laws were built, even if, over the years, they have evolved in somewhat different directions. So what's the big deal?
I'm a vehement advocate of the separation of church and state. I don't want anyone's religion crammed down my throat and I don't have any interest in imposing my beliefs on others. Not in the schools, not in the courthouse. But this plaque, as has been repeatedly pointed out, represented one aspect of the historical evolution of our system of law. It obliged no one to accept either its particularly Protestant rendition of the Decalogue or the overall sentiments expressed therein (though hopefully we can agree that some of them -- "you shall not kill, you shall not steal" -- are permanently embedded in the laws our court system manifestly seeks to uphold). It did not, I would suggest, represent an enforsement or establishment of a religion by the officials of Chester County.
Nevertheless, Sally Flynn, a then-72-year-old avowed atheist and resident of Chester County, the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia and (of course) the ACLU found the plaque offensive. A lawsuit ensued. In April of 2002, a Federal District Court judge ordered the plaque removed. A few days later, he stayed that order pending the county's appeal and required, instead, that the plaque be covered, so as to avoid further offense, "with an opaque drape of a color calculated to match, as closely as possible, the limestone on the … façade of the Courthouse." This was done and the plaque has remained modestly veiled ever since.
Earlier today, I'm pleased to report, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court decision. An excerpt from the opinion's introduction is instructive.
The Chester County Courthouse in West Chester, Pennsylvania, erected in 1846, was designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, renowned architect of the United States Capitol. In 1920, following a public dedication ceremony with both religious and secular overtones, the Chester County Commissioners accepted a bronze plaque displaying a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments for placement on the Courthouse facade from a group of local citizens who represented an organization known as the Religious Education Council. The plaque was affixed near what was then the entrance to the Courthouse. It has remained there for over eight decades, but during that time nothing has been done by the County to draw attention to, celebrate or even maintain the plaque.
Until a few years ago, visitors to the Courthouse would walk past the plaque on their way in. However, that entrance was closed, so visitors now enter via the modern addition to the Courthouse, some seventy feet to the north. While the title of the plaque, “The Commandments,” is legible to a visitor walking along the sidewalk to or from the north wing main entrance, a visitor would have to climb the steps in front of the former entrance to read the rest of the text.
The present lawsuit was brought by Plaintiff Sally Flynn, a Chester County resident who noticed the plaque as early as 1960 but was apparently not bothered enough by it to complain until 2001, and the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia (of which Flynn is a member) after the County Commissioners denied Flynn’s request to remove the Ten Commandments plaque. Freethought, according to its founder Margaret Downey, is “a forum for atheists, agnostics, freethinkers to meet, socialize and exchange ideas.” The defendants are Chester County and the Chester County Commissioners, in their official capacities.
It's a long and carefully reasoned opinion, complete with photographs of the old courthouse entrance, so you can judge for yourself the level of religious coersion or advocacy inherent in the display. The decision will, of course, be appealed. It remains to be seen whether the plaque will be uncovered in the meantime or whether the danger it represents to our society will mandate its shrouding until the last appeal is exhausted.
A personal postscript:
It's somewhat disconcerting that several articles about this controversy (such as this one) ascribe the "summary" of the Decalogue at the bottom of the plaque to "a verse from the Gospel of Matthew that begins, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.' " That verse originally comes from a much earlier source. It's part of the fundamental declaration of Jewish faith, the Sh'ma, and it's found at Deuteronomy 6:5.
