Out-of-State Attorneys Join Ten Commandments Lawsuit

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Out-of-state attorneys from atheist organizations have been given a green light to participate in a lawsuit  that would block the Ten Commandments in Arkansas’ schools and public buildings.

Arkansas law requires a copy of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings. Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requires a historical copy of the Ten Commandments to be displayed as well. The measure received strong support in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, and the governor signed it into law on April 14. Act 573 is slated to take effect later this summer.

However, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on June 11 to block Act 573. On Monday, the federal court issued a series of procedural orders letting attorneys from the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Wisconsin and Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C., represent plaintiffs in the case as well.

This is not the first time these groups have opposed laws in Arkansas. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is currently part of a lawsuit to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the capitol lawn in Little Rock. And both organizations also have a history of complaining about religious expression in Arkansas.

Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that items that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto — may be honored and recognized publicly without running afoul of the First Amendment.

The Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have had a profound impact in shaping America’s concept of the rule of law as well.

Besides being culturally and historically significant, copies of the Ten Commandments have often appeared in artwork at courthouses and similar locations around the country.

During her testimony in support of Act 573 last April, Rep. Alyssa Brown noted that the U.S. Supreme Court uses a “longstanding history and tradition test” to decide if it is constitutional to display something like a copy of the Ten Commandments. Rep. Brown said, “The Ten Commandments without a doubt will pass this longstanding history and tradition test.”

We believe our federal courts ultimately will agree and uphold Act 573 as constitutional.

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

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Atheist Displays Placed Alongside Nativity Scene at Arkansas Capitol

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Above: One of the atheist displays placed near the Nativity on the Arkansas Capitol lawn.

This month the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers placed atheist “winter solstice” displays on the state capitol lawn.

The atheist displays appear alongside the state’s longstanding Nativity display carved by Arkansas artisans and another atheist display by the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s display celebrates the winter solstice and the Bill of Rights, and the freethinkers’ display celebrates atheism and atheist organizations, among other things.

In 2009 a federal judge in Little Rock ruled Arkansas’ Secretary of State was obligated to allow a local group of atheists to put up a display marking the winter solstice on the capitol grounds.

The Secretary of State and the Arkansas Legislature likely could prevent these types of displays from appearing on the capitol grounds each December by redesignating its lawn as a limited public forum intended to celebrate state and federal holidays like Christmas.

The irony is that America’s Bill of Rights — which the Freedom From Religion Foundation display celebrates — is the product of a Judeo-Christian worldview.

For example, historians have long recognized the Ten Commandments as one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they profoundly shaped our nation’s legal system and ideas about justice.

That’s why there is a carving of Moses holding the Ten Commandments at the apex of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

The Christian understandings of personal liberty, self-government, and rule of law were woven into the founding of our country. Without the birth of Christ, the Bill of Rights arguably never would have been born either.

As Founding Father John Adams put it in 1798, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Or as President Ronald Reagan said at the 1984 Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas:

Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

The Nativity Scene above adorns Arkansas’ Capitol Lawn each year.

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Atheist Organization Celebrates Amendment That Would Write Abortion Into Arkansas’ Constitution

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On Friday the nation’s most prominent atheist organization issued a statement celebrating the proposed Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024.

The group Arkansans for Limited Government is backing the amendment. If passed, the measure would write abortion into the Arkansas Constitution and legalize as many as 3,000 or more elective abortions every year in the state.

Arkansans for Limited Government must collect more than 90,000 petition signatures from registered voters before the amendment can officially appear on the November ballot.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Freedom From Religion Foundation — an atheist group headquartered in Wisconsin — celebrated the abortion amendment, writing,

Great news! Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin certified ballot language Tuesday for a proposed constitutional amendment that would overturn the state ban on abortion, joining a growing list of states with pro-abortion referenda in November.

This is not the first time the Freedom From Religion Foundation has weighed in on ballot measures in Arkansas.

In 2022 the group celebrated the defeat of Arkansas’ religious freedom amendment at the ballot box.

More recently, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a complaint to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office over inmate baptisms at the county’s correctional facility and provided an atheist display on the Arkansas Capitol Grounds last Christmas.

You can download a copy of the abortion amendment here.

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