Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty - BJC: Okla. governor should veto religious monument on state capitol grounds

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BJC: Okla. governor should veto religious monument on state capitol grounds

Written by Cherilyn Crowe
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Governor will decide this week whether to sign the controversial legislation Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry should veto legislation that would place a monument honoring the Ten Commandments on the state capitol grounds, says a Baptist organization supporting religious liberty for all people. The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty says that while some Ten Commandments displays may be held constitutional, all Americans should be concerned when government meddles in matters of religion. On May 11, the Oklahoma state legislature passed a final version of a bill allowing the creation of a Ten Commandments monument paid for with private money to be placed on the state capitol grounds. The final version allows a private group to help the state's attorney general if there is a legal challenge to the monument. Gov. Henry had five days to decide if he will sign or veto the legislation. K. Hollyn Hollman, Baptist Joint Committee general counsel, said that government displays of the Ten Commandments tend to send a message of exclusion to those who do not share the Judeo Christian tradition and a message of favoritism to those who do. "We should be more concerned with following the Ten Commandments rather than merely posting them on government property," Hollman said. "Religion flourishes best when the separation of church and state is protected." The Baptist Joint Committee is a 73-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based religious liberty organization that works to defend and extend God-given religious liberty for all, bringing a uniquely Baptist witness to the principle that religion must be freely exercised, neither advanced nor inhibited by government. -30-

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