RESPONSE:
The ONLY question is, Which “Ten Commandments” would you like?
There are 3 (or more) versions of the 10 Commandments.
This means that Government would be establishing a religion.
Before you even get to the question of IF you can have them or not, you have to decide on which set of 10 you want to be officially sanctioned, or established as superior, by Government.
If there are different versions of the Ten Commandments, it is simply unconstitutional for Government to prefer one over the other.
FOLLOW-UP:
There are 3 main sets of 10 Commandments:
- Judaism (the original 10)
- Anglican, Reformed, Protestant
- Catholic and some Lutheran
Not to mention, there is the question of which subset you use:
- Exodus First set, before Moses smashed them
- Exodus Second set
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”.
1) the establishment of a national religion by Congress, or 2) the preference of one religion over another.
UNCOVERS:
You don’t have to get into the Freedom from/of Religion debate. The mere fact that there is no one universally accepted set of 10 commandments changes the debate to Government establishing one religion over another.
SIDE POINTS:
Which 10? – PDF
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment
Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005)
McCreary County v. ACLU, 545 U.S. 844 (2005)
Salazar v. Buono (08-472)
