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Lord, we thank You for the return of the Ten Commandments monument to the Kentucky state Capitol. We pray You preserve these sacred commandments and our religious freedom in every state across the country.
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Decades ago, a monument displaying the Ten Commandments was removed from the Kentucky state Capitol grounds. Now, thanks to a law recent passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, the law will return to its rightful place.

From The Christian Post. A Ten Commandments monument is returning to the Kentucky state Capitol grounds as religious liberty advocates and faith leaders offer differing opinions about the display.

Have you taken your place on the wall?

 

House Joint Resolution 15, which overwhelmingly passed the Republican-controlled Kentucky House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled state Senate,Ā became lawĀ Thursday without the signature of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat.

The resolution authorized the return of a granite Ten Commandments monument to the Capitol grounds after it had spent decades in storage and a previous attempt to display the monument faced resistance from the courts. The monument was first donated to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1971 by the Kentucky State Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. It remained on display until the 1980s when it was moved for a construction project.

While a joint resolution approved by the Kentucky Legislature in 2000 authorized the monument’s return to Capitol grounds, a 2002 federal appellate court decision prevented it from going into effect. At that time, the monument was returned to the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

The 2025 resolution cited the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decisionĀ Van Orden v. PerryĀ that upheld the display of a Ten Commandments monument on state Capitol grounds in Texas, as one of several examples of courts upholding religious displays on public lands in an attempt to make the case that returning the monument to the Kentucky Capitol grounds was constitutional. The resolution requires the return of the Ten Commandments monument within 180 days of its effective date.

The resolution took effect Thursday, two weeks after the state Senate approved it in aĀ 32-6 vote. The House voted in favor of the resolution in aĀ 79-13 voteĀ on Feb. 19. The votes fell mostly along party lines, with one Democrat in the Senate joining all Republicans in supporting the resolution, while four Democrats in the House broke from their party to back it.

In aĀ statementĀ shared with The Christian Post, First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Roger Byron proclaimed, ā€œWe applaud the Kentucky legislature for restoring a part of Kentuckyā€™s history.ā€

Byron added, ā€œLike Kentuckyā€™s monument, there is a long history and tradition of public monuments and displays that recognize the unique and important role the Ten Commandments have played in state and national history.ā€

ā€œWe are thrilled to return the Ten Commandments monument to the state and have it restored to the Capitol grounds, its historic location. The Eagles have donated over 100 Ten Commandments monuments to state and local governments over the years, and weā€™re glad to have ours back where it belongs,ā€ said Vic Jeffries of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie.

While First Liberty Institute and the Fraternal Order of Eagles cheered the return of the Ten Commandments monument, a coalition of 79 faith leaders from across the state spanning multiple religions and denominations stated their opposition to the development in aĀ March 19 letterĀ urging Beshear to veto the resolution.

The religious leaders characterized the resolution as ā€œa misguided effort that will undermine the religious freedom we cherish as people of faith and leaders of faith communities.ā€

ā€œThe government must respect the rights of individuals and faith communities to make decisions about the sacred texts that inform our religious understandings and practices. Laws mandating the display of the Ten Commandments on government property demean that freedom,ā€ they claimed in the letter to Beshear.

ā€œThe text of the monument at issue in HJR 15 is not universal or inclusive of all faith traditions,” they maintained. “Indeed, the monumentā€™s version of the Ten Commandments does not exist in any translation of the Bible, nor do the Ten Commandments as such hold religious meaning for hundreds of thousands or more of Kentuckians who are Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Unitarian Universalist, or who practice other religions or no religion at all.ā€

Insisting that ā€œMatters of faith should remain in the family and in faith communities, and not in the hands of government officials,ā€ the signatories asserted that the ā€œCapitol is the seat of our state government and should be welcoming to all Kentuckians, regardless of their faith.ā€

They expressed concern that ā€œby communicating the governmentā€™s preference for some faiths, the monument undercuts the religious equality Kentuckians share and threatens to use the Ten Commandments as a symbol of exclusion and religious intolerance.ā€

Are you encouraged by this news? Share your thoughts, prayers, and praises below.

This article was originally published at The Christian Post. Used with permission.

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Jen
March 30, 2025

Praise you Lord for this great victory and may this precedent spread like wildfire to the rest of the states in our nation. The ten Commandments are good for any people and any religion. We are still one nation under God, and it is in him that we trust.

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Jacqueline
March 30, 2025

Praise God!!! It is written “So be it so let it be done” in Jesus’ name, amen.

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