Ky. Courthouse Removes Ten Commandments

CBNNews - The Ten Commandments have been removed from the Jackson County Courthouse in Lexington, Ky., in effort to resolve a Federal lawsuit.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the courthouse three weeks ago to have the plaques removed, claiming the displays were a government endorsement of religion.

Nine framed copies of the Ten Commandments were taken off display along with a 3 by 5-foot copy that hung behind the judge's bench.
   
Judge-Executive William O. Smith said he and other members of the local Christian community did not want to put taxpayers in jeopardy of losing a costly court case.

"Personally, no, I was not in favor of removing them," Smith told Ledger-Enquirer.com.

Atheists File Lawsuit Over 'God' Engravings

CBNNews.com - An atheist group is attempting to keep the phrase "In God We Trust" from being engraved at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C.

The House and Senate passed resolutions earlier this month to allow that phrase and the Pledge of Allegiance to be engraved at the entrance of the visitor center.

The resolution came in response to critics who complained Congress spent $621 million on the new three-story underground center without paying respect to the nation's religious heritage.

The center opened in December after seven years of construction.
    
The engravings of the phrases were considered a way to respect the nation's religious heritage.

Is America Really a Christian Nation?

Paul Strand, CBN News Washington Sr. Correspondent

CBNNews.com - For many people today, it's a controversial question, but not for the nation's founders who saw the Bible as the basis for the American revolution.

The men who fought a revolution and created a country -- the most free country to have ever existed-- once gathered in the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Penn.

Why so much freedom? Some say because the revolutionaries accepted what the Bible said about human beings, that they are created in the image and likeness of God.

"(It was the first time in history) an entire country was actually founded upon the idea that all human beings possess certain innate inalienable natural rights," said Robert Hutchinson, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible. "And that these are not privileges that are bestowed by the state, but are gifts from God that no state, no king or potentate can take away."