Atheist Groups Ask Federal Judge to Rule Against Arkansas’ Ten Commandments Monument

Atheists groups are again asking a federal judge in Little Rock to rule against Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments. The renewed request for a ruling is part of a lawsuit that has languished in court for more than six years.

In 2015 the Arkansas Legislature passed a measure authorizing a privately-funded monument of the Ten Commandments on the Arkansas Capitol Building grounds.

The monument — which is identical to one the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional at the capitol building in Texas — was unveiled in 2018.

However, atheist groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Satanic Temple promptly filed a lawsuit to have it removed from the capitol grounds.

The case originally was set to go to trial in July of 2020, but the trial was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker has been asked multiple times to resolve the case, but so far it has remained in limbo.

In November, attorneys representing the groups who oppose the monument asked Judge Baker to issue a decision against the monument, citing a federal judge’s recent decision to block a Louisiana law that requires public school and college classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Obviously, there are differences between Louisiana’s law placing the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms and Arkansas’ law authorizing a privately funded monument on the capitol grounds.

As we have said many times, there shouldn’t be anything controversial about a monument honoring the Ten Commandments.

Historians have long recognized the Ten Commandments as one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have helped shape philosophy and laws in countries around the world — including the United States.

Arkansas’ monument simply commemorates that legacy.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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