Line Drawing In New 10 Commandments Displays

The confusion created by Supreme Court's line drawing in its recent Ten Commandments decisions is indicated by a report in this morning's Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune. Casper had one of the Fraternal Order of Eagles monuments in its City Park. In 2003, it removed the monument under threat of a lawsuit. Now the city is building a new downtown plaza. It plans to take the Ten Commandments monument out of storage and place it there, along with monuments to other documents that played an important part in the development of American law. Casper's city attorney, Bill Luben, has ruled that this is permissible under Van Orden v. Perry because the display will emphasize the Ten Commandments' historic value, not their religious value.