Va. Senate panel kills proposal to allow posting of Ten Commandments

Church & State, Mar 2002

A bill that would have encouraged public schools in the state of Virginia to post the Ten Commandments died after the state Senate Education and Health Committee voted it down 9-6 Feb. 14.

The measure had passed the Virginia House of Delegates the previous week, but lawmakers on the Senate panel expressed concerns over its constitutionality.

"We felt that we were in fact bringing religion in the schools with this," Sen. Warren E. Barry (R-Fairfax) told The Washington Post. "We were inviting a constitutional challenge."

The bill's sponsor, Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William), argued that the bill was mainly designed to promote the study of "transcendent values" in public schools and proposed that schools also post the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Virginia Constitution. But opponents said there is no way several of the commandments that deal with humanity's relationship to God could be secularized.

Americans United Trustee Robert S. Alley, a resident of Richmond and former university professor, testified on AU's behalf against the measure. Alley reminded the panel that the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980 struck down a Kentucky law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments. The Virginia bill, if passed, he warned, would spark legal challenges.

A similar bill may secure passage in Alabama. The state Senate voted 28-0 Feb. 14 in favor of legislation requiring every public school in the state to post the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

"This bill is to teach our children where our laws come from," said Sen. George Callahan (R-Theodore), the measure's sponsor. The bill must still pass the House of Representatives and be signed into law by the governor before taking effect.

In addition, the Alabama Senate has unanimously approved a constitutional amendment that would alter the state constitution to specifically permit Ten Commandments displays at government buildings. If approved by the House, the measure would go before the voters as a ballot referendum question.