How does the posting of these "irrelevant" commandments in an Alabama courthouse harm you? Are you really worried that you might be tried and convicted of creating and bowing down to a graven image?
Your world won't end, your quality of life will not be diminished, whatever private habits you enjoy engaging in will still be yours to engage in. You're bellyaching just for the sake of bellyaching.
This nation has a rich Judeo-Christian tradition. Atheists despise the tradition and are intent on making all of public society as godless as they are. It isn't just religious practices they despise, but the very thought that anyone might dare publically declare a belief in God drives them insane.
I am pleased that at least one courageous state supreme court justice is standing his ground.
How does the posting of these "irrelevant" commandments in an Alabama courthouse harm you? It creates the impression that a citizen who (for example) does not worship the God of Abraham is not equal before the court to one who does. Such an inequality, or even the appearance thereof, is unacceptable. QED.
"This nation has a rich Judeo-Christian tradition. Atheists despise the tradition and are intent on making all of public society as godless as they are. It isn't just religious practices they despise, but the very thought that anyone might dare publically declare a belief in God drives them insane."
While this might be true of some atheists who refuse to give any credit to religion, it certainly isn't true of all (including me), and it ignores how the Commandments are problemmatic for people of other non-Judeo-Christian religions as well. Many of the Commandments are inapplicable to the U.S. system of government. Here's one good rundown of the inherent problems:
http://www.geocities.com/buyu_2000/rssl/kh/commandments.html
How does the posting of these "irrelevant" commandments in an Alabama courthouse harm you? Are you really worried that you might be tried and convicted of creating and bowing down to a graven image? You responded to his question with a question. How about you answer his first. BTW, I didnt see him say that posting these commandments harms anyone UNLESS you say they carry the weight of US law. Then you've joined the Taliban.