I was pleasantly surprised by the decision of the Potter County commissioners yesterday. A few days ago, a group asked the commissioners for permission to put a 3-ton religious monument on county property in front of the courthouse. The monument would have had the 10 commandments plus several quotes pushing the christian religion.
But the commissioners decided yesterday to stay out of the religion game. They voted 4 to 0 to ban religious monuments on county property. They did so because they didn't want to have to spend county money to defend a case they were sure to lose.
County Attorney Scott Brumley told the commissioners that the Constitution forbids the government from endorsing any one religion. The monument would definitely have been an endorsement of the christian religion.
Commissioners also said to remain within constitutional boundaries, they would have to allow many more monuments including the possibility of a monument by some radical group that might offend nearly everyone.
Whatever their reasons, the commissioners did the right thing, and I'm proud of their decision. Many Republicans nowdays seem not to care about the constitution and are willing to violate it to push their chosen religion. I'm glad the Potter County commissioners didn't succumb to that pitfall.
Now that this nonsense is out of the way, they can go on to deal with real issues affecting the citizens of Potter County.
Wow, this is news I never would have expected to hear coming out of Texas. I imagine they were motivated mostly by fear of a lawsuit that they know they would lose, but still, it's good to see at least a little pushback against the theocrats down here.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense and the rule of law prevails for the moment, but you can't underestimate faith-based foolishness and its adherents. In other words, this is probably not the end of this issue.
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