The pitcher of the 10 commandments should not be taken down nor edited from Giles county school.

Thanks to Marauder for proposing the topic before us, it should be a good debate.Religious LibertyThe display of the Ten Commandments on state property is one of the most contentious and frequently litigated First Amendment issues in recent years. It is fairly common knowledge that the First Amendment contains two Religion Clauses: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." [1]The First Amendment clearly imposes a constitutional mandate of strict separation between church and state. The Establishment Clause, for example, prohibits not only government favoritism of religion, but also government actions "respecting" an establishment of religion.What does this have to do with the Ten Commandments? In Stone v. Graham, The U.S. Supreme Court's initial foray into the Ten Commandments controversy, the Court recognized the Ten Commandments are an "instrument of religion," an "undeniably sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths, and no legislative recitation of a supposed secular purpose can blind us to that fact" [2]. Hence, the Court found that the Commandmens are predominantly religious in nature.The Court explained that the Ten Commandments are plainly religious because they "do not confine themselves to arguably secular matters, such as honoring one's parents, killing or murder, adultery, stealing," but rather, "the first part of the Commandments concerns the religious duties of believers: worshipping the Lord God alone, avoiding idolatry, not using the Lord's name in vain, and observing the Sabbath Day" [2].A display of the Ten Commandments on state property is therefore a violation of the First Amendment, as it shows governmental favoritism for the Judeo-Christian God. It is for this reason that the pitcher of the Ten Commandments should be taken down from Giles county school, or edited to exclude the explicitly religious language of the Commandments.Re: "It is just a pitcher we are talking about" Marauder claims that the pitcher will not "affect" the people who walk by it. But any reasonable observer would notice the government's purpose to favor the Judeo-Christian God. The Ten Commandments begin as follows: "I AM the LORD thy God," and continues, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The religious nature of the pitcher should be clear to any student who walks by it.The problem is not only that the pitcher communicates a religious message, but that it favors the Judeo-Christian faith over others. The purpose and effect of the pitcher is thus to advance sectarianism, as it intentionally promotes adherence to one faith over another, or adherence to religious over non-religion.Marauder claims it is "just" a pitcher, but this point is irrelevant - the fact that the government displays the Ten Commandments on state property demonstrates a purpose to favor religion. And by showing a purpose to favor religion, as the Supreme Court points out in Lynch v. Donelly, the government sends the message to nonadherents "that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members" [3].Re: "They are displayed in Context"Marauder says it is the "fault" of nonadherents for "reading too much into the pitcher when you see it displayed in context with other historic documents." I disagree - the pitcher provides no reasonable connection between God and the historic documents it is surrounded by. The context provided does not provide a basis for establishing a secular purpose or secular effect to the pitcher. The pitcher clearly commands a preference for religion over irreligion, and there is no reason to believe it is the "fault" of nonadherents for feeling like "outsiders." Marauder claims the pitcher is "clearly just an artistic show," but the Ten Commandments are not a work of art nor do they refer to any event in the history of the United States. I seriously doubt a reasonable observer can ignore the plainly religious nature of the pitcher, including a command to believe in the Judeo-Christian God.Re: "Editing does not make sense"Marauder's argument does not justify the explicitly religious nature of the first four Commandments. The problem with Marauder's argument is that it insists that the Ten Commandments have historic value, but in doing so, Marauder ignores the actual history of the United States. Our country is founded on the idea, reached after years of religious war, that individual liberty requires a religious tolerance that respects the religous views of all citizens.The purpose of the Establishment Clause was to prevent the government from favoring one faith over another, or of favoring religion over non-religion. The religious nature of the Commandments, however, violates the Establishment Clause, which is central to the foundation of our country. Marauder attempts to defend the pitcher with an appeal to history, but the actual history of our nation is one of religious tolerance, not religious favoritism.Re: "Local identity" Marauder says it is not the business of government to determine what the "local school privately chooses to hang on its walls." The problem with this argument is that it assumes Giles county school is a private school - private schools are allowed to hang whatever they want on the walls - but Giles county school is a public school. And public schools are a reflection of the government. True, public schools are allowed to reflect the local identity of the community, but there are limits. If a public school wanted to display a commandment to steal because it was located in a community where stealing was part of the local identity, the government would have a problem with that, because it directly conflicts with the law. Likewise, if a public school wanted to reflect the atheism of the local community by favoring non-religion, the government would have a problem with that, too.The point is, public schools are state property, and state property is not supposed to reflect or condemn anyone's religious views. The pitcher of the Ten Commandments favors the Judeo-Christian God, and therefore, it is unconstitutional. And Giles county school, regardless of its local identity, is within the United States - which means it the Constitution applies.