Ten Commandments cases: Cohesive approach from conflicting rulings

Published: 2005-07-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Though one Supreme Court ruling on Ten Commandments displays prohibited them in Kentucky courthouses and the other permitted a monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, the combined effect of the two apparently conflicting decisions is a simple, coherent message: "Chill out," as one First Amendment scholar put it. Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center, said that although the rulings went in different directions, with differently constituted 5-4 majorities of the court, in combination they are a signal to both sides to back down in the debate over whether it is appropriate for public buildings to display the Ten Commandments.

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