Ohio School Requested to Remove Ten Commandments Display

The Freedom from Religion Foundation in April 2019 requested that a public school in New Philadelphia, Ohio remove a plaque displaying the Ten Commandments. This case provides a strong example of the required separation between church and state.

The Establishment Law and Religious Displays

Constitutional law states that public schools are prohibited from advancing or endorsing religion. In an earlier case that similarly considered a Ten Commandments display, the Supreme Court of the United States found that the display violated the Establishment Clause.

In making its decision, the Supreme Court applied the Lemon test, which analyzes:

• Whether the display has a secular or non-religious purpose
• Whether the primary effect of the display is to advance or inhibit religion, and
• Whether the display results in excessive government entanglement

The Supreme Court first considered the nature of public displays involving the Ten Commandments in Stone v. Graham. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the display violated the establishment clause because in this context, the display took on a religious significance.

In a more recent case in 2005, the United States Supreme Court found that a Ten Commandments statue on capital grounds that was one of 39 monuments over a 22-acre property was allowed to stand because in this context, the statue took on a non-religious purpose. Compared together, these two cases demonstrate the importance of understanding the environment in which a religious statue is placed.

The Request by the Freedom from Religion Foundation

A commentator for the Freedom from Religion Foundation noted that the placement of the Ten Commandments display near the school’s entrance promotes Christianity over other religions and turns anyone who does not share these beliefs into an outsider. The Foundation also noted that the “First Commandment” of “You shall have no other Gods but me” was a way of enforcing a Christian perspective on everyone who read the display.

The School’s Response

In response to the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a Superintendent for the school district commented that due diligence is being performed to make sure that the appropriate decision is made for students and the community. The Superintendent also commented that the display was a gift from the Class of 1926 and has been at the location since the 1920s.

Other Similar Efforts

The school is not alone in its efforts to deal with a Ten Commandments statue. Recently, the Freedom from Religion Foundation successfully requested two schools in Pennsylvania remove Ten Commandments monuments. One of these cases resulted in a school in New Kensington, Pennsylvania removing the monument and paying attorney’s fees for the opposing side. Another case resulted in the city of Dover, Delaware removing a Ten Commandments display from a nativity scene.

The Universal Life Church
While the separation between church and state has existed since the creation of the United States, each year there are a number of cases that test the exact boundaries and relationship between these two areas. Each week, the Universal Life Church’s blog is dedicated to covering the most noteworthy of these subjects.