Title:
Debating the Display of Ten Commandments in Public
Schools and Buildings
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
In Giles County, Virginia, the school board has
removed displays of the Ten Commandments in its
schools. The county thought that posting the Ten
Commandments, along with the first part of the
United States Constitution, might help increase
moral values. There had been few complaints since
the Commandments were posted almost twelve years
ago. But recently, civil liberties groups had
threatened to take the county to court if it did not
remove them. The United States Supreme Court permits
the Ten Commandments to be on public property so
long as the goal of displaying them is not to gain
support for religion. But in nineteen eighty, the
Court ruled that the Ten Commandments cannot be
shown in public schools because displaying them
shows support of religion by the government. Jewish
and Christian holy books say the Ten Commandments
were laws given to the prophet Moses by God. Many
Americans believe the country was founded on
Judeo-Christian beliefs. Many of their beliefs are
expressed in the Ten Commandments. They are a set of
rules against murder, stealing, cheating, adultery
and profanity. Douglas Laycock is a professor of
constitutional law at the University of Virginia
School of Law in Charlottesville. He says the
Supreme Court has ruled that governments must be
neutral about religious teachings. He said: "Putting
up the Ten Commandments in a way that promotes the
Jewish and Christian scriptures is a violation of
the Constitution, and especially if they do it in a
public school." Officials in Giles County say they
may put the Ten Commandments back on the walls of
the schools but will add other historical documents.
Professor Laycock says it is possible that might
satisfy a court. Since the Supreme Court ruling in
nineteen eighty, more conservative justices have
been appointed to the Court. Professor Laycock says
some conservative activists believe this new, more
conservative Court might be willing to once again
permit the Ten Commandments to be displayed in
public schools. For VOA Special English I'm Alex
VillarrealTell us what you think about religion in
public schools. You can comment at
voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts
and MP3s of our reports. And you can find us on
Facebook at VOA Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
