The Freedom From Religion Foundation denounces the Kentucky Legislature’s misguided decision to reinstall a Ten Commandments monument on the statehouse grounds.
The move, approved by an overwhelming margin in the Kentucky House and Senate, sends a clear message that Kentucky’s government improperly favors one religion over all others and religion over non-religion.
The monument was originally donated to the state in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, but was removed for a construction project in the 1980s. In 2000, the Kentucky Legislature attempted to reinstall it, but the ACLU successfully sued to block the effort, affirming that such religious displays on government property are unconstitutional.
Despite this legal precedent, the legislature recently passed House Joint Resolution 15, calling for the permanent return of the bible edicts to the state Capitol grounds. The Kentucky House approved the resolution on Feb. 19 in a 79-13 vote, and the state Senate followed on March 13 with a 32-6 vote. The bill became law on March 27 without Gov. Andy Beshear’s signature.
“The First Commandment alone shows how egregiously these bible edicts violate the First Amendment,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “The state of Kentucky has no business telling citizens how many gods to have, which gods to have or whether to have any gods alone.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled against government-sponsored religious displays, including a 1980 case that specifically struck down a Kentucky law mandating the Ten Commandments in public schools. Nevertheless, Kentucky officials are once again using public property to advance a religious agenda.
FFRF is not alone in opposing the display. A diverse coalition of 79 faith leaders from across Kentucky, representing multiple religions and denominations, admirably voiced their strong opposition in a March 19 letter urging Beshear to veto the resolution.
“The Capitol is the seat of our state government and should be welcoming to all Kentuckians, regardless of their faith,” the letter states. “Instead, by communicating the government’s preference for some faiths, the monument undercuts the religious equality Kentuckians share and threatens to use the Ten Commandments as a symbol of exclusion and religious intolerance.”
FFRF condemns the Kentucky Legislature’s capitulation to Christian nationalism and its failure to uphold the honored principle of separation between religion and government, which, by ensuring freedom from religion in government, has protected true religious freedom.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with nearly 42,000 members nationwide, including members in Kentucky. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
