A federal appeals court in Denver ruled Monday that a Ten Commandments monument outside the Haskell County, Okla., courthouse endorses religion, based on public comments made by county commissioners after it was installed.
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the monument “has the primary effect of endorsing religion” when taken in context with the small community of Stigler, Okla., where it sits.
The privately funded stone monument was erected in 2004. The panel noted that at least two of the three commissioners were present at the monument’s unveiling Nov. 7, 2004. One commissioner, who wasn’t quoted by name in the panel’s ruling, said after it was installed, “That’s what we’re trying to live by, that right there. . . . The good Lord died for me. . . .”
The court said a reasonable observer would conclude the monument and the commissioners’ actions “reflect a government endorsement of religion.” The Associated Press
