Ten Commandments monument returning to Ky. Capitol grounds...

Ten Commandments monument returning to Ky. Capitol grounds amid pushback from some religious leaders

Christian Post, 

A Ten Commandments monument is returning to the Kentucky state Capitol grounds as religious liberty advocates and faith leaders offer differing opinions about the display. 

House Joint Resolution 15, which overwhelmingly passed the Republican-controlled Kentucky House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled state Senate, became law Thursday without the signature of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat.

The resolution authorized the return of a granite Ten Commandments monument to the Capitol grounds after it had spent decades in storage and a previous attempt to display the monument faced resistance from the courts. The monument was first donated to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1971 by the Kentucky State Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. It remained on display until the 1980s..

While a joint resolution approved by the Kentucky Legislature in 2000 authorized the monument's return to Capitol grounds, a 2002 federal appellate court decision prevented it from going into effect. At that time, the monument was returned to the Fraternal Order of Eagles. 

The 2025 resolution cited the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision Van Orden v. Perry that upheld the display of a Ten Commandments monument on state Capitol grounds in Texas, as one of several examples of courts upholding religious displays on public lands in an attempt to make the case that returning the monument to the Kentucky Capitol grounds was constitutional. The resolution requires the return of the Ten Commandments monument within 180 days of its effective date. 

The resolution took effect Thursday, two weeks after the state Senate approved it in a 32-6 vote. The House voted in favor of the resolution in a 79-13 vote on Feb. 19. The votes fell mostly along party lines, with one Democrat in the Senate joining all Republicans in supporting the resolution, while four Democrats in the House broke from their party to back it. 

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