GOP Oklahoma Governor Rufuses to Remove 10 Commandment Monument Despite Court Ruling

GOP Oklahoma Governor Mary Failing Fallin has previously demonstrated that she is only too willing to prostitute herself to Christofascists by doing all in her power to keep LGBT Oklahomans third class citizens.  Now, she is defying a ruling of the Oklahoma Supreme Court that found that a 1o Commandment monument could not remain on the statehouse grounds since it gives preference to a particular religion in violation of the Oklahoma Constitution.  Fallin's excuse?  That the monument is "historical" rather than religious.  This reasoning, of course, not only proves that Fallin is a moron - an overly made up one at that - but ignores the reality that there is ZERO archaeological proof of the validity of the 10Commandment myth embodied in the Old Testament.  Her reasoning also ignores the fact that the monument was only erected in 2012.  Here are details from Think Progress:

Oklahoma’s governor is delaying the removal of a statue commemorating the biblical Ten Commandments from statehouse grounds, offering a direct challenge to a recent ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court demanding it be taken off government property because it violates the state law regarding the separation of church and state.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (R) published both a press release and a blog post about the stone monument, saying judges “got it wrong” when they issued a 7-2 decision last week insisting the government refrain from privileging one religion over others on public property.

When the American Civil Liberties Union brought the issue of Oklahoma’s statue before the state’s Supreme Court, however, the judges noted that the question at play wasn’t whether or not the stone monument violated the U.S. Constitution, but whether it violated the state’s constitution. To that end, they pointed to article 2, section five of Oklahoma’s Bill of Rights, which reads, “No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”

The judges insisted that the Ten Commandments were clearly uniquely special to a select few faiths, and thus shouldn’t be taking up space on public grounds.

The statue, which was erected in 2012, has stoked controversy since its inception. When initial efforts to remove it proved unsuccessful, a group calling itself the Satanic Temple applied for a permit to install another a sculpture of a Baphomet, a goat-headed deity often used to represent Satan, on statehouse grounds. The group — which is more closely tied to secular humanism than religious Satanism — announced it would abandon its plans after the court issued its decision last week, but the Governor’s actions might keep the idea alive.

The monument has also been replaced at least once: In 2014, a man damaged the statue by slamming into it with a car, claiming that Satan told him to destroy it and urinate on the broken remains.

Fallin - who looks like a blond version of the late DC Madam - embodies the reality that today's GOP is synonymous with special rights and undeserved deference to Christofascists and Christianity.

Virginia School Division Votes to Remove Ten Commandment Display

Facing a likely loss in federal court, the Giles County School Board voted unanimously yesterday to remove a display of the Ten Commandments that had been part of a display on American government and morality.  For readers not in the know, Giles County is in the far west of Virginia - a region of Virginia still in many ways akin to something out of the old movie "Deliverance" even though that movie was supposedly set in Georgia.  Its a part of the state that not surprisingly has difficulty attracting new and progressive business - a problem not helped by the local religious extremism and rejection of modernity.  I'm sure The Family Foundation's dominatrix like president will be raising Hell with the Virginia GOP about this example of the "persecution of Christians."  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:  

A copy of the Ten Commandments will soon be taken down from a hallway wall at Narrows High School, where it has hung during a year and a half of controversy and litigation.

The Giles County School Board voted unanimously Thursday to replace the commandments with a copy of a page from a history textbook that mentions the Ten Commandments in conjunction with American government and morality.

Giles County residents who have shown up en masse at earlier meetings in support of the commandments display were not in attendance for the vote, and it was unclear how it would play among that segment of the community.

The school board's 5-0 vote, taken with little discussion during a sparsely attended special meeting, comes less than a month after a federal judge raised pointed questions about whether the commandments display violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

A motion approved by the board read: "In light of the recent controversy, and legal proceedings, and the substitution of this Roots of Democracy document in the place of the text of the Ten Commandments, this board will not approve the posting of the text of the Ten Commandments in our schools unless and until the courts provide further clarification of the law in this area."

It was not clear how the vote might affect mediation sessions ordered last month by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski. Urbanski is presiding over a lawsuit in which a student at Narrows High School asked that the commandments be taken down, saying they amount to a governmental endorsement of religion.

The commandments were first placed in Giles County schools in April 1999 in response to the Columbine school shootings.  In December 2010, they were taken down after a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.  Facing heat from the community, the school board voted to put the display back up, then took it down again on legal advice.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that similar displays in Kentucky courthouses were unconstitutional, and that posting the Ten Commandments alone in a school violates the First Amendment's mandate that government not endorse religion.

Time and time again the far right in Virginia believes that it can ignore U.S. Supreme Court rulings.  Just maybe they are beginning to get the message that they are not above the law and the Constitution.

Christianists Seek Identity of Student in Virginia Ten Commandment Challenge

The double standard of the Christianists is always shocking. They want special rights and extreme deference to themselves and their beliefs but everyone else gets thrown under the bus if the Christianists have their way. A case in point is a federal court case challenging the display of the Ten Commandments in Narrows High School in Giles County, Virginia. The plaintiffs, out of fear of retribution, have brought the case under assumed names with the ACLU supporting that approach. For readers outside of Virginia, Giles County (population was 17,286) shown in the image at left is located in Southwest Virginia adjacent to the West Virginia state line. While much of the region is physically beautiful, including portions of the New River Valley, to call the area a social backwater would be too flattering. The Christianists - NOM and the anti-gay witnesses in the Prop 8 case are prime examples - NEVER want their identities known if possible due to their claims they will face harassment. But when someone challenges their special privileges, they want the challenger exposed so that abuse and harassment by the pious can move forward full bore. As an LGBT blogger who now moderates comments, I know full well the "love" the godly ones inflict on those who challenge their privileges and beliefs (it's always the "Christians" who make the death threats). Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on Liberty Counsel's efforts to expose the plaintiffs to likely danger and abuse:

A student perturbed by a display of the Ten Commandments at Narrows High School should not be allowed to sue under a veil of secrecy, attorneys for the Giles County School Board say.

"The people have a right to know who is using their courts," lawyers for Liberty Counsel, which represents the school board, wrote in the brief. "Consequently, the use of fictitious names is disfavored and should not be granted automatically."

The student and parent identified themselves only as Doe 1 and Doe 2 when they filed a lawsuit last month asserting that the Ten Commandments display violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, asks a judge to order the commandments taken down.

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which are representing the student and parent, are seeking a protective order that would keep their identities a secret - even to members of the school board. The request cites comments and emails mostly directed at the two legal groups.

"Keep up the good work, you'll have a special place in hell," one email says. Another suggests that non-Christians leave the county "before things get ugly over there." Taken as a whole, the comments show a communitywide animus from which the plaintiffs should be protected, the ACLU contends.

A judge is expected to rule on the anonymity before taking up the larger question of whether the Ten Commandments — posted in a high school hallway as part of a display of historical documents — amount to a governmental endorsement of religion, which the First Amendment prohibits.

While the plaintiffs have not been subjected to any hostility, that's only because no one knows who they are, said Rebecca Glenberg, an attorney with the ACLU. "So far, most of the invective has been directed at the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation," Glenberg said. "But it seems clear that if the plaintiffs' identities become known, they will become the targets of that ill will."

Should a protective order be granted, Liberty Counsel said, it should be crafted to allow school officials to learn the plaintiffs' identities so they can better defend themselves. The school board is also asking that the student and parent be required to testify in open court, possibly with the public being excluded from the hearing.

The next time Matt Staver is trying to keep Christianist identities secret, I hope someone will quote his comments in this case. Meanwhile, even as beautiful as the southwest part of the state may be, it's a region I intend to avoid like the plague. Those desiring to share their thoughts with the Giles County school board can do so here: mdolinger@gilescounty.org. The county administration can be contacted here: cmcklarney@gilescounty.org

Wing Nuts Pressuring Congress for a "Ten Commandment Weekend"

As Bob Felton has noted at Civil Commotion, The American Family Association is rejoicing to report that the number of organizations signing-on to demand that the United States Congress set aside a weekend for honoring the Ten Commandments is growing. As Bob correctly points out, why can't these fundies celebrate the Ten Commandments on their own without Congress’ endorsement of them? I would add further, why have a "Ten Commandment Weekend" when the organizations lobbying for the designation are among the most disingenuous circulators of lies and untruths imaginable? It would seem to me that if AFA and similar Christianist groups truly want to honor the Ten Commandments, they could start by ending all of their deliberate lying and dissemination of hate and intolerance. Oops, I forgot - it really all a media stunt by the Christianists and the GOP members of Congress kissing the hypocritical asses of the likes of Don Wildmon, James Dobson at FOF and Tony "KKK" Perkins at FRC. Here's a sample of the AFA's blather:

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"Both of these [resolutions] would authorize a Ten Commandments weekend in order to recognize the Ten Commandments as the foundation of law in this country,” Murray explains. “But with Nancy Pelosi in charge of the House and Harry Reid in charge of the Senate, we can’t have a voice. We can’t get these out and open and celebrate the Ten Commandments,” he contends.

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Note how they forget that the U. S. Constitution is the foundation of the civil laws in this nation, not the whackout Christianist version of the Bible. Would that we could ship all these theocrats off to Tehran.