The battle over a religious monument, the Ten Commandments, conspicuously placed on the Denver statehouse grounds in Colorado, is entering a new phase.
In early June Robert R. Tiernan, counsel for the Freedom From Religion Foundation and its Denver Chapter, advised the deputy director of the Colorado Legislative Council of plans to place a countermonument.
An earlier legal challenge of the Ten Commandments monument was turned back by the U.S. Supreme Court following a Colorado Appeals Court victory and a narrow 4-3 decision in the Colorado Supreme Court supporting the religious monument.
Wrote Tiernan to Deputy Director David Hite: “The purpose of this letter is to confirm our recent telephone conversation wherein you advised that there is no requirement for a permit or approval covering the placement of a monument by the Foundation in Lincoln Park . . .
“The Foundation’s monument will be polished granite approximately the same size and quality as the Ten Commandments monument now located in Lincoln Park. We estimate it will weigh approximately 1,000 pounds and we intend to have it professionally installed. The installation may require the construction of a concrete or similar base to hold the monument securely in place. The Foundation plans to place the monument either beside the Ten Commandments monument or directly across the walkway from that monument.”
Regarding the placement of the countermonument, Tiernan referred state officials to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v Pinette where the Court held that the State of Ohio could not refuse to allow the Ku Klux Klan to erect the Christian cross on the State Capitol grounds.
Lincoln Park, site of the Denver statehouse and the Ten Commandments monument, is “a public forum,” Tiernan pointed out, “where First Amendment rights are entitled to be exercised.”
The Foundation’s monument will contain the following inscription:
There are no gods,
no devils, no angels,
no heaven or hell.
There is only
our natural world.
Religion is but
myth and superstition
that hardens hearts
and enslaves minds.
The Foundation expects to utilize both sides of the monument to include historical published quotations concerning religion by famous Americans such as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mark Twain. Also included will be a statement attributing the monument to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. and its Denver Chapter.
Tiernan is asking Colorado officials to take whatever steps are appropriate “to advise law enforcement of the legality of our action and to avoid any misunderstanding about the rights we are exercising.”
At press time, no response had been received from Colorado state officials.
