PA Courtroom 10 Commandments OK'd

The Harrisburg Pennsylvania Express-Times reports today that the nine county court judges in the Northampton County Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas have ruled that Ten Commandments hanging above the witness stand in Courtroom One can stay. In an opinion by Presiding Judge Robert A. Freedberg, the court said that there is no evidence that the plaque was intended to convey a religious message, and there is no other evidence of the county attempting to promote religion. The plaque was presented to the court in 1954 by a Jewish community group to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in America. The opinion quotes US Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer's concurring opinion in the recent case of Van Orden v. Perry, that "passage of significant time without a challenge to the plaque's placement demonstrates that it has not been perceived as an establishment of religion."