Settlement of Commandments suit to cost Rutherford $50,000

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Settlement of Commandments suit to cost Rutherford $50,000

The Tennessean, January 12, 2007

MURFREESBORO -- Rutherford County will pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit over posting the Ten Commandments in its courthouse.

The Rutherford County Commission voted Thursday night to settle the suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. In September, a U.S. District Court found that the commission had violated the First Amendment by posting the Ten Commandments in the courthouse in 2002.

Commissioner Mike Sparks has started a campaign to have the Ten Commandments posted in homes and businesses around the county.

Sparks said the lawsuit and publicity surrounding it caused "thousands" of people to display the Ten Commandments in their homes and other places.

County Attorney Jim Cope told commissioners that two almost identical cases from Kentucky failed in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cope said the high court approved posting the Commandments in a public place in Texas because there had been no proclamation or statement to indicate the Ten Commandments were displayed for religious purposes.

"It's not the Commandments themselves that are the problem," Cope said. "It's whether you are trying to promote a religious purpose."

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