Thou shalt not put up monuments

High court to hear Ten Commandments cases

I am no legal scholar. In fact, I am no mathematician, religious scholar or CCD student. I own a Bible (the modern translation) and a book entitled "Don't Know Much About the Bible." Religion is fascinating to me, but I don't know much about it. Nor do I have an extensive knowledge of the Constitution, even after working on an American history book for nearly a year, or after taking three classes with the most excellent professor of history at Emerson, John Coffee. So I have some mixed emotions about religious statues being placed in areas of government business.
You can't argue that the laws of this country aren't based on Judeo-Christian beliefs. The Declaration of Independence throws around language such as "creator" and "God." The Founding Fathers were deeply religious men, so the laws in the Constitution reflect the influence of the Ten Commandments. It's not entirely irrational to put a statue of the Ten Commandments outside a courthouse since it relates to the laws being discussed inside. I could see if it was a statue of Jesus over the front door that it would be worthy of an uproar.
The main problem I have is the view that a lot of people in this country have that the Christian religions are the only thing going, and that they view the religious paraphanlia outside as an endorsement of their beliefs. A lot of people can't fathom that anyone would have beliefs other than their own. Maybe it's because Christmas evokes Santa and elves for me instead of Jesus and bales of hay, but I don't get it. I know religion gives people a lot of comfort and a sense of community and, you know, good for those people. But I don't think it takes a very high level of thinking to step outside yourself, put yourself in someone else's shoes and say, "Yeah, you know, putting that big honking religious monument outside a courthouse may not be the best idea. Maybe we can move it in front of the church?"
Of course, Justice Scalia made the most bone-headed comment in the article:

According to an AP-Ipsos poll, 76 percent of Americans support such displays, a fact that was not lost on some of the justices during arguments. "It's a profoundly religious message, but it's a profoundly religious message believed in by a vast majority of the American people," Scalia said.

As I understand it, the entire fucking purpose of the Supreme Court is to protect the rights of the minorities in this country. Most minorities are discriminated against-- hence why the Pilgrims came here (and for the money, but, eh), hence why the Supreme Court had to desegregate the schools, why the Supreme Court had to protect the right abortion. This issue isn't as clear cut as those, but Scalia's comment is pretty dumb. He basically argues that "well, all the cool kids are doing it, so Commandments of stone for everyone!"