Indiana public school substitutes ten 'common precepts' for Ten Commandments

Church & State, Feb 2000

Adding a new twist to the debate over posting the Ten Commandments in public schools, an Indiana school district has decided to display ten "Common Precepts" for moral behavior.

The list, which has been posted in public schools in Scottsburg, urges Students to respect authority, honor their parents and family members, speak truthfully, abstain from sex until marriage, resolve conflicts without violence, stay drug and alcohol free, speak kindly to and about others, leave other people's property alone, treat classmates and teachers with respect and avoid being jealous of what others have.

Superintendent Robert Hooker insisted that the moral precepts are not an attempt to sneak religion in through the back door. "We're not trying to teach religion," he told The New York Times. "With kids killing kids, and so many negative images out there, we're just trying to put forth a positive message."

The original list of precepts also advised students to "Trust in God." However, under fire from the Indiana affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, the school board decided to delete that religious advice.

"It suspiciously tracks the Ten Commandments," said Kenneth Falk, an ACLU lawyer. "The edict to trust in God is clearly a religious notion."

The idea for the 11 precepts started after two residents in the town of 6,500 approached Hooker and asked for permission to post the Ten Commandments in schools. Hooker turned them down, saying the move would spark a costly lawsuit. Instead, he urged the school board to adopt a more secular code, and the members agreed.

"Every one of us on the school board believe in that God," said Rod Colson, a board member. "We're not going to turn our backs on Him. You've got to draw a line in the sand somewhere."

But Jonathan Wakeman, a Scottsburg resident, disagreed. "It's not the school's job to tell students to believe in God," Wakeman said.

In other news about the Ten Commandments:

The Val Verde (Calif.) School Board has voted unanimously to reverse its decision to post the Ten Commandments in district schools. The move came after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit, calling the proposed display a violation of church-state separation.

Board members voted 5-0 to approve posting of the Decalogue in the district's 12 schools last September. In November, after the lawsuit was filed, they met in closed session and voted 4-0 to drop the idea.

Some local residents were not pleased. "I think the ACLU needs to be shot," said the Rev. Abraham Capers Jr. of the First Baptist Church of Perris. "They should be put on a ship with a hole in the ship and sent off."

The Elkhart, Ind., city hall can continue to display the Ten Commandments, a federal court has ruled. U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp upheld the monument Dec. 24 and in his opinion took issue with other federal courts that have struck down such governmentsponsored religious displays.

"There have been times in our society when a voice from the back of the bus has raised profound questions as to where we were heading as a society," Sharp wrote in the Books v. City of Elkhart ruling. "This may be a voice from the back of the judicial bus attempting to raise questions about where we are headed under the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Hopefully, this discussion will lead to a careful re-examination of precisely where we are going with our jurisprudence about religious messages and symbols on public property in the United States."

The Haywood County, N.C., courthouse may not have to take down the Ten Commandments after all. The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge to the display in December after plaintiff Richard Suhre died. In its Dec. 8 decision, the appellate panel refused to allow Anne Maxwell, another Haywood County resident to substitute for Suhre, an Americans United member who died at age 89.