Advertisement
On the back are the Beatitudes.
The monument, made of marble, stands in front of St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in West Salem.
Henry Althoff, one of those who led the effort to erect the monument, said he hopes it will give people the feeling they’re getting back their religious rights.
“They’re God’s commandments, and we think the public should be able to see them,” said Althoff, 71, a member of St. Leo’s. “Our nation was founded under God. Our Pledge of Allegiance says ‘under God.’ And religious freedom is the reason that people came to this world.”
Since 2004, more than 330 similar monuments have been erected in 42 states through the effort of Project Moses, an Omaha-based nonprofit group.
While an estimated 85 percent of the 64-inch monuments have gone up at Catholic churches and schools, Protestant churches and schools, and businesses and private landowners also have purchased them.
Project Moses was born after the American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit protesting the display of the Ten Commandments at a courthouse in Kansas.
Its mission is to put up 5,000 monuments in the next five years, the proceeds from which would fund a 24-foot-tall statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments in a tourist area in Washington, D.C., said Joe Worthing, national executive director of the project.
“We’re not trying to make a political statement,” Worthing said. “But the hard fact of the matter is our entire society and civil code was based on this foundational precept.”
Hank Zumach, one of the plaintiffs who fought to have a Ten Commandments monument removed from La Crosse’s Cameron Park several years ago, said “it’s a religious right lie that (American) laws were founded on the Ten Commandments.”
But he doesn’t have any problem with them being displayed on church property. “That’s where they belong,” said Zumach, 65.
Althoff is district deputy of Knights of Columbus District 25.
The Catholic fraternal society is responsible for erecting the majority of the Project Moses monuments throughout the U.S., including ones at the St. Mary’s Catholic churches in Bangor and Tomah, Wis.
Althoff, who thinks the Ten Commandments should be allowed at courthouses, said the Knights have had conversations about erecting monuments at more local churches.
“If we can’t follow those simple laws, how can we possibly keep any other laws?” he asked.
Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.
