Friday, September 7, 2012
Politics State rep doesn't care if you're offended by Ten Commandments hanging in the Gold Dome
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 4:31 PM
- Joeff Davis
- A framed copy of the Ten Commandments is posted in the basement of the capital along a wall above a small sign that reads "Historical Foundations of American Law & Government," other documents framed on the wall include, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and other historical documents supporters say are related to the United States founding.
Clay's morning post mentioned this mindblowingly ridiculous story about state officials hanging the Ten Commandments in the Gold Dome, a public facility which is operated and maintained with taxpayer funds.
But I thought it was really worth mentioning again to acknowledge this quote from state Rep. Tommy Benton. The Jefferson Republican sponsored the legislation allowing the state to display the document. Via the AJC:
“I’m not concerned if anyone will take offense... If they don’t want to look at it, they don’t have to look at it.”
Read that again and again and again. We left a message with Benton, who was one of more than 90 state House members who signed on to legislation requiring presidential candidates prove their citizenship, asking if he'd be open to displaying other types of religious documents in the Gold Dome. We'll update the post if we hear back.
UPDATE, 4:46 p.m. Atlanta redditor "walkertexasharanguer" argues why challenging the placement of the Commandments should be avoided:
By placing the TC on the wall, they are openly defying the courts. But to get it taken down, someone has to challenge it and get a judge's order to have it removed. This generates a lot of publicity, makes the conservatives look like heroes to regular God-fearing Georgians, makes the challengers look like oppressive communist atheists and creates a rallying point for the conservative base.But it's bullshit. It has nothing to do with how Georgia is being governed or misgoverned, doesn't create jobs or better schools or reduce crime. It's just a wedge they hope liberals will be stupid enough to fall for.
Like I said, I hope no one takes the bait. The smart play is to just leave it alone. It doesn't really hurt anyone to have the TC hanging there.
Let the babies [.] have their bottle.
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