10:06 AM EST on Thursday, December 30, 2004

The effort to purge any mention of God from the public square has become nothing short of ludicrous: Witness the removal of an 8-foot-high monument bearing the Ten Commandments from Providence's Roger Williams Park.

City leaders, fearing a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, quietly asked the Fraternal Order of Eagles to take back the monument that the group had installed in 1963 -- or else it would be removed and discarded. (One city official suggested hiding the Ten Commandments under a tarp!) The Eagles moved it to their West Warwick headquarters.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of American history knows that the Founders, in attempting to protect the public from a religion run by the federal government, never intended to expunge "God" from civic life. Indeed, the Declaration of Independence asserts that our most essential rights come from the Creator, not man -- a way of saying that they cannot be justly taken away by any government. For 200 years, civic life has brimmed with references to God -- in public prayers, in phrases chiseled into public buildings, in some of the greatest oratory the country has produced.

It would be as easy to expunge our Judeo-Christian heritage as it would be to erase our classical heritage -- seen in everything from the Greek-inspired love of argument, reasoning and scientific analysis to the handsome columns that adorn our public places. The Ten Commandments are part of our common inheritance; they helped shape our laws and culture.

The few fanatics who are bothered by a Ten Commandments monument in a city park would cite the First Amendment's "Establishment Clause," which supposedly guarantees the absolute separation of church and state. The actual language of the amendment, however, and the conduct of Americans for centuries suggest that something far different was stated and intended: that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Anyone with common sense could tell that the government was not forcing religion down Rhode Islanders' throats by letting the Eagles install their monument four decades ago. (Most of the park's visitors probably didn't even know it was there.)

The courts should not be interpreting the clause so broadly that citizens are denied their freedom to mention God in public. They have a right to express their beliefs, as long as they do not establish a state-run religion or take away anyone's freedom to worship as he or she pleases.

And it works: During the last two centuries, Americans have shown, by any fair measure, extraordinary tolerance for religious diversity -- even when citizens dared to mention the dreaded Ten Commandments!