🚀 go-pugleaf

Minnesota monuments to Ten Commands generate little controversy 


By JOSHUA FREED
The Associated Press
8/28/03 8:16 PM


MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Ten Commandments monuments are thinly scattered
throughout the public places of Minnesota, but none of them has
generated the controversy recently seen in Alabama -- not that the
Minnesota Civil Liberties Union hasn't tried.

A few examples: There's a Ten Commandments monument on the lawn of
Faribault's public library, another one at the Crow Wing County
courthouse in Brainerd and a third in front of the Duluth City Hall.

In Alabama, a federal judge ruled last year that a Ten Commandments
monument placed at the courthouse by the state's chief Supreme Court
justice violated the Constitution's ban against government promotion
of a religious doctrine. Controversy ensued.

In Minnesota, several of the monuments are the work of retired judge
E.J. Ruegemer, who worked to post copies of the Ten Commandments in
juvenile courtrooms nationwide in the 1950s. He got support for the
marker from the producer of the "Ten Commandments" movie, Cecil B.
DeMille. Ruegemer worked through the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

Decades ago the Eagles donated one reddish stone monument to Duluth,
which prompts a call to city officials about every six months, said
city attorney Bryan Brown.

He said the callers have always been polite after he tells them the
city is waiting for a clear ruling from the courts about whether it's
legal to keep the monument.

"We are waiting for a more bright-line regulation that says that they
are all banned ... or somehow gives us a standard that we can apply,"
he said.

Milo Schnepf joined the Eagles in Faribault in 1959, two years after
the commandments went up at the library. He was later president of the
Faribault aerie and the statewide organization.

"The Ten Commandments are sort of a universal thing," Schnepf said
Thursday. "I mean, everybody believes in the Ten Commandments. If they
don't, they should."

Schnepf was hesitant to talk about the Faribault monument, for fear of
drawing attention to it.

"Some kook will probably decide that they're against the law or
something, and make them take 'em down," Schnepf said.

"Kook" might be in the eye of the beholder. But Chuck Samuelson wants
them taken down.

The spokesman for the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union said Ten
Commandments displays on public property violate the First Amendment
because they promote one religion over another.

A public display of the commandments "excludes those people who don't
believe in the Ten Commandments. They may be atheists ... they may be
Buddhist, they may be Hindu, they may be Muslim," he said.

Different courts have issued conflicting rulings on the issue, and
many observers expect it to eventually be settled by the U.S. Supreme
Court.

Sullivan said the MCLU has not sued to remove some of the Minnesota
monuments because it's tough to find a local attorney to challenge the
establishment in a small town.

Sullivan said he was unaware of any Ten Commandments monuments on
public property in the Twin Cities. He believes that's partially due
to the presence of attorneys willing to challenge them.

------ 

Joshua Freed can be reached at jfreed(at)ap.org