A western Kentucky clerk has removed a painting of the Ten Commandments from her office, after being told it violated a Supreme Court ruling banning religious establishment displays in government courthouses.
Last month, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Trigg County clerk Carmen Finley saying that her display breaches separation of church and state.
The painting says, "God spoke these words" and lists a modern and revised version of the Ten Commandments.
"In McCreary County v. ACLU, the Supreme Court ruled that a modern display of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses violated the U.S. Constitution," writes FFRF Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott in the letter. "The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a permanent injunction against such displays in 2010, finding that the counties acted with an impermissible religious purpose."
According to the Kentucky New Era, Finley, who took office in 2014, says she hung the painting five months ago, and put it up because the courthouse is ‘a place of law and the commandments are the oldest laws she knows.’
When called, Finley was unavailable for further comment Thursday with staff saying she was out of the office for the rest of the week.
The painting is currently in Finley's office.
This is the second time Trigg County has had a run in with the Minnesota-based FFRF.
The Foundation says Trigg County has been on their radar since July when Judge Executive Hollis Alexander refused to conduct a wedding ceremony for a non-religious couple. Then, Foundation attorney Andrew Seidel sent a letter to Alexander saying that the judge violated the couple’s First Amendment rights by forcing them to take part in a religious ceremony.
