Just a couple weeks ago, after an intense, lengthy public fight, a monument of the Ten Commandments was finally installed on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stand long, per The New York Times: “Less than 24 hours after it was embedded into a base of concrete and steel rods behind the Capitol building, the monument, which weighed about three tons, was smashed into pieces when Michael Tate Reed II, a 32-year-old resident of the city of Van Buren in western Arkansas, slammed his car into it, according to Pulaski County sheriff’s office records and state officials.”
“Freedom!” Tate yelled as he rammed into the monument, the destruction of which he recorded on Facebook Live. According to reports, Reed suffers from mental illness and this was not his first offense destroying this type of symbol.
For supporters of our country’s religious heritage, this is not the end. At a press conference last Thursday, Troy Duhon and Bob Katz, the executive producers of the film franchise “God’s Not Dead,” donated $25,000 to build and install a new Ten Commandments monument in the same place, bringing total donations to $55,000.
Of course the real story here isn’t over the demolished stone or the offer to rebuild, important and altruistic though that may be. Controversy still exists over whether the monument should have been erected at all.
Proponents say it’s a way to honor our country’s legal heritage that began with the Puritans seeking religious freedom. Opponents say it violates separation of church and state. In 2005, the Supreme Court “confirmed that the display of a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds was constitutional after a challenge that questioned whether such displays violated the First Amendment’s prohibition against an official establishment of religion.”
Mike Berry of the First Liberty Institute attended the press conference. First Liberty is the authorized counsel, along with the attorney general of Arkansas, to defend the monument. In an e-mail, Berry explained to me the legal reasoning behind the erection of the monument, and the controversy:
The Arkansas 10 Commandments monument should withstand any legal challenge. Both the Supreme Court, and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes Arkansas) have upheld the constitutionality of 10 Commandments monuments that are nearly identical to the one in Arkansas. Since America’s founding, the 10 Commandments have played a historic role in the foundation of law in our free society. It is sad that some would ignore that foundation and attack the monument.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
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