News Release
For Immediate Release: October 1, 2012
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
Group Reveals True Motive: Keep Ten Commandments Out of Sight, Period
(Harrisburg) — In recent weeks the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has filed lawsuits in US District Court against two western Pennsylvania school districts demanding that they remove Ten Commandment monuments from school property. In the lawsuit against the Connellsville School District they are also demanding that a neighboring church not be permitted to move the Ten Commandments to their property because a student may see it while they are on school property. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide group advocating for religious liberty, notes that this latest demand from the FFRF proves they do not just want schools to be free from any mention of God, but they also want nearby churches to be silenced.
“The Connellsville Church of God made a reasonable offer to move the five foot tall monument to their property, but the Freedom From Religion Foundation is so rabidly anti-liberty that they cannot even stand that a neighboring church have it on their property. Perhaps they should read the rest of the First Amendment where it mentions freedom of speech,” Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA commented.
Both the New Kensington and Connellsville Ten Commandments were donated by the Fraternal Order to Eagles back in 1957. In the New Kensington case a complaint was filed with the FFRF this spring by a visiting student and in Connellsville, one junior high atheist student says he felt excluded because of the placement of the Ten Commandments monument. According to an FFRF news release, they have about 675 members in Pennsylvania.
“Six hundred seventy-five of Pennsylvania’s approximate 11 million residents are members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and their goal, apparently, is to silence the rest of us. This attack on the Connellsville Church of God because of the offer they made is simply an act of intimidation. The FFRF is trying to send the message to concerned churches that they must stay within their four walls, that they must stay out of community affairs,” further commented Gramley.
Perhaps the FFRF should check with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who also sent a letter to the Connellsville School District concerning the Ten Commandments monument. Gregory M. Lipper, senior litigation counsel, said he was pleased that the church was going to take the Ten Commandments.
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