“…what the ACLU is trying to do is come down and squelch, censor, speech that they don’t agree with.”
Residents in thinly populated Dixie County on Florida’s Gulf Coast are battling the American Civil Liberties Union over a Ten Commandments monument at their county courthouse.
Truth That Transforms with D. James Kennedy reports on the brewing conflict Sunday, Oct. 23, on TV outlets nationwide. For listings, click here.
To watch the report now, click below.
The ACLU of Florida has sued on behalf of an anonymous non-county resident who wants to remove the five-foot tall, six-ton monument, which was paid for and is being maintained by a local businessman.
Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, says Dixie County commissioners violated the First Amendment when they allowed the monument’s placement outside the courthouse. The case, he said, “is about the Dixie County Commission essentially endorsing a sacred religious document on a monument on the steps of the county courthouse with nothing else around it.”
Horatio Mihet, an attorney for Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty law firm defending Dixie County, counters that the county did not endorse the Ten Commandments, but simply created a forum in which residents could exercise their First Amendment free speech rights.
He charges that the ACLU is not defending constitutional liberties, but is silencing free expression.
“Instead of promoting free speech, instead of trying to have as inclusive a forum as possible, what the ACLU is trying to do is come down and squelch, censor, speech that they don’t agree with,” said Mihet.
A federal judge sided with the ACLU in July and ordered the monument removed. Dixie County appealed and the monument remains in place pending the outcome.
Many of Dixie County’s 15,000 residents want the Ten Commandments to stay.
"We want it there. We want it to stay there. We’re proud of it. And that’s what we were built on," says Gina Fowler on the Truth that Transforms program.
“We have a value system that embraces God, that embraces the Ten Commandments, that embraces freedom of worship,” says Harold Doles.
Michael Perez agrees, saying the “Ten Commandments and Christianity is what America was founded on, and I think people today should be reminded of that.”
“I don’t think it’s right to be taking the Ten Commandments out,” says Nathan VonStein.
Mike Brown, who pastors First Baptist Church of Cross City, said, “I don’t think we can even articulate the moral damage and the destruction of this nation that will occur if we remove those references to God, to His sovereignty, to His authority and His just rule over our lives.”
Liberty Counsel attorney Horatio Mihet said the dispute reminds him of life in Romania, where he grew up under communist rule.
“Every time I get involved in one of these fights, whether it is to outlaw God’s Word or God’s Commandments, or God’s Name from the public square I can’t help but draw the parallel to what we saw in communist Romania where God’s Word [was] in fact illegal.”
That could happen in America, he worries, unless people vigorously defend their rights under a proper understanding of the First Amendment, which prohibits government from restricting free speech and bans the establishment of a religion—by which the Founders meant a national church endorsed by the government and supported by taxpayer dollars.
“The danger in continuing to ignore these issues,” said Mihet, “is that you know we’ll wake up to find that Christianity has been outlawed in the land of the free.”
Stand with Dixie County!
Stand with the Dixie County Commission as they defend the right to display the Ten Commandments by adding your name to the expression of support below.
On behalf of ALL of us deeply religious (or not) who believe in God and enjoy and find peace in The Ten Commandments and in Nativity Scenes or anything else displaying OUR GOD, I have to say we are offended by OUR GOD being taken away from everything. NO ONE is demanding that those being offended by these wonderful displays have to agree with the displays. Just leave them ALONE.
And, to ACLU, where are the rights of us who find great inner peace in these displays? After ALL there are more people who believe in God than there are Atheists.
Dear Friends and also anyone who would rather not be, this is to encourage and or enlighten you, whichever applies to you personally. I respect all of God’s children enough to include everyone. Here is my MESSAGE:
WE NEED TO BE PUTTING UP THE TEN MANDMENTS EVERYWHERE INSTEAD OF TAKING THEM
DOWN. IF EVERYONE OBEYED THE 10 COMMANDMENTS WE WOULD NOT NEED THE COURTHOUSE.
IF EVERYONE JUST LEARNED THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OUR COUNTRY AND OUR LIVES WOULD BE SO ENRICHED, WE WOULD BE “WALKING ON AIR”..which by the way is also provided by GOD.
We are in desperate need of DIVIDNE GUIDANCE.
BULLETIN: AMERICA BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE “WE THE PEOPLE” REMEMBER? NO ONE JUDGE OR ANYBODY ELSE CAN DICTATE WHAT WE WILL BELIEVE OR NOT BELIEVE.
The pompous judge may see himself as all powerful, but the rest of us do not have to involve ourselves with that..that’s his problem. BUT we do have to defend the TEN COMMANDMENTS and all the other RIGHTS that GOD bestowed upon us. Love to all. Nancytag1 aka Nancy4America.
First off, I believe in God, and I believe that every Politician, Judge, Senator, Mayor, Police Chief, Sheriff, Governor, President of the United States, (get my drift?) was sworn into office while holding his hand on a Bible, even Obama used a historical Bible for his swaering in as President of the United States. Before anyone testifies on the witness stand, do they not Swear to tell the truth, the whole truth so help then God? Our money that these same politician, judges, etc… earn, steal or spend, does it not say ‘In God We Trust”? If they are so against God, then first off, get out of Office, we don’t want nor need your non-support, if you are just a non-believer who wants to make trouble, go to a country of YOUR choice that believes as you do, or better yet, it doesn’t matter where you go, just leave! I am fed up with always having to give into the atheists; we have to honor THIER NON-BELIEF, why? America has offered them the freedom to believe or not believe. If they choose to NOT believe in the almighty creator, guess what, they will have to face their own ill fate one day. America was founded on these 10 Commandments, our justice system, as sorry as it has become, originally was founded on these same 10 Commandments. The immigrants who arrived on the shores at Ellis Island years ago, honored this country by learning OUR language, abiding my OUR laws of the land. Today, the immigrants come to OUR country to escape problems in their country, then the first thing they do is start trying to change OUR country to be what THEY left. If you don’t like what we have here, then get on that boat, plane or broom stick and leave! If you want change, go home to where you came from and make your CHANGES there and leave OUR country alone. I am sick of hearing, we need to Change….even Obama said that, but read your history and you will learn that Hitler preached CHANGE….Castro preached CHANGE….I believe if you will check it out, most if not all communist countries preached change…does anything sound familiar? The only CHANGE America needs to make is to put OUR country back on track, get prayer back in our schools, teach the youth of today about respect for others, as well as themselves. Everyone needs to have these 10 Commandments posted in their front yards, raise the America flag with pride, and stand up for OUR country and support the ways of our forefathers who founded AMERICA. These NON-BELIEVERS want to be respected, that is fine, but show me the same respect for being a BELIEVER! This person from North Carolina who wants to be anonymous, why is this person afraid to have their identity known? If you believe what you are doing is right, stand up for what you believe in, don’t hide, as all that is telling me is you are a coward! The Law says the accused has the right to face their accuser…well, this person is accusing Dixie County and ALL America Christians of believing in God, and all I can say is ‘AMEN’. If this person or persons don’t want to show themselves, then this entire case needs to be dropped! This person is not worthy of breathing God’s air, or seeing God’s beauty in the trees, or eating God’s bounty. God created all that we see, eat, and breathe today, and I thank God every day for life. My God taught me that you always forgive those who are ignorant and try to guide them through Gods word. America needs to stop this insanity of removing God from our lives, and we need to do it NOW, if this case wins, America is going to be lost for sure as this case will only open the door for more to sue anyone and everyone for believing in God. I pray that God will have mercy on us all, to Forgive us for our ignorance of allowing others to remove him from our everyday lives, and that he will HELP US GET BACK ON TRACK and put HIM BACK IN OUR LIVES!