The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania over a six-foot tall Ten Commandments monument at the front entrance of Valley High School in New Kensington, PA. The monument, like many others around the country, was donated by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles as part of a marketing campaign for the Cecil B. DeMille movie The Ten Commandments. In a press release the group says:
FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott first sent a letter in March to the District Superintendent requesting that he remove the Ten Commandments monument because it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The district failed to move the monument or even write an official response.
Board President Robert Pallone, however, wrote in March on the Facebook webpage called “KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AT VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL,” that the district would not “remove this monument without a fight !!!!!” Clergy in the area held a rally during the school day in front of Valley High School to support the decision to retain the religious monument.
The complaint notes the display “lacks any secular purpose,” citing Stone v. Graham, a 1980 Supreme Court decision which ruled the Ten Commandments may not be posted in public school classrooms, because “The pre-eminent purpose” for doing so “is plainly religious in nature.”
You can read the full complaint here. One of the plaintiffs in the case is requesting the right to remain anonymous because of the risk of retaliation for filing the suit. As my forthcoming book will document in great detail, that fear is well-founded.
24 comments
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Zinc Avenger (Sarcasm Tags 3.0 Compliant)
September 19, 2012 at 11:43 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Is this fight going be repeated in every single county before they stop realizing their god isn’t a get-out-of-law card in this country?
brucecoppola
September 19, 2012 at 11:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, it did and still does have secular purposes:
1) To promote a movie.
2) As a monument to a great film producer/director.
See? No problem.
Scrutationary Archivist
September 19, 2012 at 11:48 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So it’s also an advertisement?
John Hinkle
September 19, 2012 at 11:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The school would not respond other than to Facebook something about fighting it? Seems a rather juvenile response to me. But then again, juvenile, childish, infantile, all these can describe fundie, privileged Xians.
Oh, and cue the fund raising by the ACLJ and Thomas Moore Law Center any moment now…
Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort
September 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@brucecoppola:
Actually I was going to say that same exact thing.
Gregory in Seattle
September 19, 2012 at 12:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@ZincAvenger – Every single county, every single school district, every single town. It is a horrific waste, but they all seem to think they are above the law.
Chiroptera
September 19, 2012 at 12:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
brucecoppola, #2:
I thought the same thing.
But, like creationist school board members trying to promote “intelligent design,” I bet the Christianists can’t keep from opening their mouths and spilling the beans on what it really is all about.
Nancy New, Queen of your Regulatory Nightmare
September 19, 2012 at 12:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I DO wish the idiots who fight these issues could be held financially responsible for the legal costs. Here’s a place where “think of the children!” really means something, as in:
You idiotic fundementalist fools, you’re wasting school district resources on a LOSING BATTLE. There is no way you’re going to be able to win this! If you insist on going ahead with it, YOU PAY FOR IT.
DaveL
September 19, 2012 at 12:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Fixed.
I also noticed this, further down on the board president’s response:
Apparently “all of us” doesn’t include those students and parents who asked that the monument be taken down. But they’re totally not “outsiders, not full members of the political community.” How dare they suggest otherwise?
brucecoppola
September 19, 2012 at 12:55 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Katherine Lorraine (etc.)
I’m honored. Usually I’m reading your posts and thinking, damn, wish I’d said that.
busterggi
September 19, 2012 at 12:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Can’t they just buy a copy of the dvd and see the damned commandments at home?
theschwa
September 19, 2012 at 1:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Can we add other movie advertisements to the lawn to make it fair and secular? How about a sculpture of a naked man in a window for Monty Python’s Life of Brian?
Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort
September 19, 2012 at 1:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@brucecoppola:
Seems my snarkiness is good for something after all! Internet blog commentating, yay!
No One
September 19, 2012 at 1:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s those extremist Muslims at it again right?
Modusoperandi
September 19, 2012 at 2:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
John Hinkle “Oh, and cue the fund raising by the ACLJ and Thomas Moore Law Center any moment now…”
It will be nice seeing them fight for Hollywood.
John Hinkle
September 19, 2012 at 5:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
MO@15:
Ha ha! Excellent!
Dr X
September 19, 2012 at 7:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
They have insulted the prophet Moses, peace be upon him! His honor must be defended with Molotov cocktails, Insha’Allāh.
chilidog99
September 19, 2012 at 7:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
sheeesh, they should get rid of it just because it’s ugly.
http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/files/2012/03/valleyfar.jpg
dingojack
September 19, 2012 at 7:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Is the school board going to put huge ugly monuments to promote Eraserhaed and Debbie Does Dallas too?
Dingo
Crudely Wrott
September 19, 2012 at 9:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The Ten Commandments seems to be a poorer movie each time I watch it again. Stilted dialogue, derivative content, self conscious acting.
The defense of displaying the Ten Commandments in state and federal institutions seems to be a poorer effort each time I watch it again. Stilted dialogue, derivative content, self conscious acting.
Gee, wonder why religious content seems to be so consistently . . . poor . . . must be built in. Somehow. Magically. Special spiritually or something like that.
bybelknap
September 20, 2012 at 1:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@ Wrott – that’s why I love the thing. Edward G’s “Where’s yer gawd now, Moses?!” (among other hilarious lines) is a family joke in our house for when bad shit happens. It pretty much fits a definition of high camp – extreme in a perversely sophisticated manner. It is almost Batman-like (the TV series) in its campiness.
jameshanley
September 20, 2012 at 9:31 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Someone local needs to fight back publicly by pointing out that based on the record of other schools/cities, they will lose this fight, and it will cost the taxpayers a lot of money. Accuse them publicly of being frivolous with taxpayer money, then suggest that the sculpture be donated to a local religious organization–if it helps politically, suggest some that can put the sculpture in a highly visible location.
Modusoperandi
September 20, 2012 at 10:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
jameshanley “…suggest some that can put the sculpture in a highly visible location.”
And when that fails, suggest a not-visible location as they drag you out of the meeting.
jameshanley
September 20, 2012 at 12:01 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
We can hope it’s not visible anyway.