Hate in the name of God

The controversial debate concerning monuments of the Ten Commandments has taken a new spin in Casper, Wyo.\nFirst, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened to sue the city if the donated Ten Commandments monument, which has been in City Park for almost 40 years, was not removed. It cited legal decisions against similar monuments elsewhere.\nThen the Rev. Fred Phelps had a different proposal for Casper. He cited a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from last year, in which the court ruled any city displaying the Ten Commandments on city property must allow monuments of other religious or political groups. Phelps wants a monument of his own to be placed in City Park, one that would say slain college student Matthew Shepard is in hell.\nPhelps, who picketed Shepard's funeral with "God Hates Fags" signs, proposed his own $15,000, 6-foot-tall, and in his own words, "absolutely beautiful" monument. It would bear a bronze placard with Shepard's portrait and an inscription reading: "Matthew Shepard entered hell Oct. 12, 1998, at age 21 in defiance of God's warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination,' Leviticus 18:22."\nWe commend the city council, which voted unanimously last Tuesday to reject Phelps' slimy and hateful monument.\nHowever, to avoid an imminent legal battle, the council also voted 5-4 to move the monument out of the park and into a plaza that will honor a variety of historic documents vital to the development of American law. (A similar plaza in Grand Junction, Co., withstood legal challenge in 2001.)\nIn victory, Casper Mayor Barb Peryam said, "If you think that we are going to put our monument someplace in cold storage, I've got another thought for you. We are going to put it where it will be more noticed, more taken advantage of and used for learning purposes by all families."\nThe council seems to be so preoccupied in preserving the statue of the Ten Commandments that it missed the entire lesson.\nWidening that slim line between religious monuments and government property creates the grounds upon which religious reactionaries can pounce to further messages of exclusion. For Phelps, the Ten Commandments and "God hates fags" signs are a part of the same belief structure. The state's sanction of one gives sanction to the other. When religious relativism is at stake, there's no room in government for picking and choosing. The justification behind separating the two was put forth to prevent chopped religious logic from weeding its way into the public sphere. \nIn essence, the Casper City Council has tried to exploit a loophole for itself. By keeping the monument, it is trying to have its cake and eat it too. The council members ignore the simplest solution, taking the monument down to prevent other unwanted statues from appearing on public grounds.