NPR ran a piece this morning about Georgia’s attempt to get the ten commandments displayed in county courthouses. They plan to package the commandments as part of a historical display. It seems they think Alito will let them do it.
In any case, one detail caught my attention and below is a letter to NPR which sums up my thinking on the matter:
To Whom it may concern:
On Morning Edition for 15 February 2006, NPR aired a story called “Georgia May Display Ten Commandments in Courthouses,” in which Susanna Capelouto of Georgia Public Broadcasting interviewed Georgia State Representative Tommy Benton regarding his strategy for allowing the display of the biblical “Ten Commandments” in Georgia County Courthouses.
I found it reflective of our times that there was no challenge to the following comment made by Benton: “Buddhists weren’t here, Hindus weren’t here, Muslims were not here when our government was set up . . . .We took those documents that reflected the heritage of when our government was set up.”
Basic knowledge of the history of the United States should include the fact that there were many African slaves in the country at the time, many of whom were Muslims. Any small amount of research could corroborate this truth. The fact that the laws of the time did not recognize these Africans and their descendants as full human beings does not mean they were not here.
Perhaps Ms Capelouto could have provided this factual counterpoint and asked why documents legalizing slavery (and its consequent immoral behavior by slave-owners) should not be included in Mr Benton’s historical display.
