Florida county says no to atheist monument next to Ten Commandments
Officials in Levy County Florida have denied an application for an atheist group to build a monument near the Ten Commandments display at the county courthouse.
The Ten Commandments are no longer on display in one Kentucky school district after an atheist group led an opposition
The group Williston Atheists had submitted an application last month to Levy County officials to place the 1,500 pound granite bench on the grounds.
“None of the texts on the proposed monument appear to be a reproduction of the entire text of any document or person, as required in the guidelines,” the county’s report explained.
The monument was to feature quotes from Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams and American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair.
Williston Atheists member Charles Ray Sparrow asserted that the commission’s reasoning was bias because the Ten Commandments monument had not been rejected for the same reason.
“It is just an excuse,” he said. “We will not give up.”
The bench was to be identical to a monument that was erected last year in Starke, Florida near another Ten Commandments display.
“We have maintained from the beginning that the Ten Commandments doesn’t belong on government property,” stated American Atheists President David Silverman in a press release. “There is no secular purpose for the monument whatsoever and it makes atheists feel like second-class citizens. But if keeping it there means we have the right to install our own monument, then installing our own is exactly what we’ll do.”
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