Giles County to ACLU: Know Thyself

That isn’t exactly one of original Ten Commandments, but it was the basic command the Giles County School Board gave the ACLU and the Freedom from Religion Foundation on Tuesday when it voted 3-2 to re-post the 10 Commandments in the county’s public schools.

The Ten Commandments, which were originally placed in all of Giles County’s public school buildings at the suggestion of a local minister in the wake of the Columbine High School shootings, were removed in February after a prolonged discussion stemming from the receipt of a letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation.  Citing legal precendents that it says makes displays of the Ten Commandments in public buildings a violation of the 1st Amendment, the Foundation, later joined by the ACLU-Virginia, threatened to sue Giles County if the Ten Commandments were not removed.  Citing the prohibitive cost of defending itself, the county chose to simply comply with the Foundation’s request.

While the cost of defending itself is what prompted two school board members to approve the proposal to re-hang the commandments, the majority believes that the Ten Commandments, as part of a new display of historical documents to include the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, among others, will be sufficient to prevail in any legal action taken against the county.

County residents pledged their financial support and prayers to the school district when the impending lawsuits are filed:

“You have my word: My spiritual, physical and financial resources will be behind you,” county resident and school district volunteer Charlie Henderson told the board before receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. “How could I go home tonight and look in my granddaughter’s eyes and say, ‘It cost too much?’”

Still, Henderson’s pledges of support was not enough to assuage the concerns of school board member Drema McMahon:

“I love my country and these documents, but we do not have the money to take this to the Supreme Court.”

The Roanoke Times reports that a similar displays in Kentucky cost two counties almost $450,000–not an insignificant sum for a county like Giles where the per capita income is roughly $18,300.

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About the author

Jason Johnson

A lifelong political junkie, Jason caught the political bug as a fifth grader after meeting George Allen in 1993. Since then he has studied political science at both the undergraduate and graduate level. When not perusing the blogs or volunteering for conservative Republicans, Jason enjoys cheering on his beloved Virginia Tech Hokies and spending time at his Bedford County home.