The passion over displays of the Ten Commandments on public property seems to be as high as ever. Yesterday's Greeneville Sun reported on a County Commission meeting debating what to do with a privately-funded Ten Commandments plaque hanging in the front hall of the Greene County, Tennessee, courthouse. A petition carrying 4000 signatures supported leaving the plaque in place. A packed audience heard three local citizens support the petitions with statements that bordered on, or perhaps crossed the border to, hyperbole.
Danny Ricker, an ordained minister who is also the employee in charge of maintenance of county buildings, spoke first. Representing an organization called Citizens for Truth, he said that the Ten Commandments are part of the nation’s heritage, "but it’s our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we’re talking about today" as well. He continued, "It’s time we get some backbone about it."
Ricker said Americans have stood by for too long and let their religious freedoms be taken from them. "I believe in obeying the law of the land until they start messing with my Lord," he said.
The second speaker, Ray Rowney, also representing Citizens for Truth urged the County to leave the plaque in place and publicly reaffirm support for the God and Country wall as "now more necessary than ever" to correct what he called "an unconstitutional act by the Supreme Court justices."
The final speaker was Gerben Hoekstra who said that when he was 10 years old, "I saw Hitler’s soldiers come past our house on beautiful brown horses," to occupy Holland, "my birth country". "Now I see the same injustice happening to my beloved adopted country. The forces of good have mostly been silent and let this slow erosion of our freedom happen.... We can lie down and play dead and let evil win." Or the Ten Commandments plaque can be left in place with a "wait and see" attitude adopted. But if this is done, he said, "Evil will win again, with a slight delay." He concluded: "So far, our rights have been defended by lawyers," who tend to get tangled in "legal mumbo-jumbo." In the future, he said, "I suggest we use laymen."
