Last week, I wrote about a group of students in Virginia who posted the Ten Commandments on their lockers at school. After officials at Floyd County High School had the posters taken down, both the American Civil Liberties Union and Liberty Counsel, the conservative Christian legal arm of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, wrote letters to the district saying that the removal violated students’ right to free speech. Both organizations argued that since the high school permits students to put signs up on their lockers, such as “Happy Birthday, Susie” and “Go Team,” the Ten Commandments are protected as well.
In my original post, I mistakenly wrote that the high school was in Giles County, Virginia, which is actually two counties away, but where students are also involved in a different fight over the Ten Commandments. However, in the Giles County case, the ACLU, as well as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, are opposed to the displays because they were not put up by individual students expressing their religious views, but were the official government-sponsored displays of the Giles County School District.
After the district decided to remove the Ten Commandments, the Giles County students hosted a walk out from school and said that those who didn’t agree with their version of Christianity should just move away.
While the Giles County School District has not put back the displays, officials with Floyd County High School have announced that they are rethinking their policy. In the meantime, they are permitting students to tape the Ten Commandments to their lockers.
According to the Roanoke Times [the original article incorrectly identifies the county by which Terry Arbogast is employed]:
“We have decided to review our policy and procedures to put in writing more specific guidelines for students,” Floyd Giles County Superintendent Terry Arbogast wrote in a letter this week to the Liberty Counsel.
“Until that review and publication occurs, Jacob will be permitted to place on his locker a copy of the Ten Commandments as requested.”
The reason that I find these two cases so interesting is that many people, including the Giles County students, misunderstand the difference between free expression of one’s religious views and the endorsement by one’s government. Unfortunately, too many people misunderstand them as the same thing.
In a yet another classic example from Giles County, members of the ministry All 10 Commandments were handing out yard signs of the Ten Commandments last week in opposition to the removal from the schools. For some reason, the fact that people are free to display religious signs in their front yards seems to be completely lost on them. One man told the local TV station WVNS that keeping the Ten Commandments in the schools is “a First Amendment right.”
