by Jayla Ward & Jorge Gomez • 2 minutes
A beautiful Ten Commandments monument is now on display at the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas.
First Liberty took part in a special dedication ceremony unveiling the monument. It was made possible by a private donation from the American Heritage & Heritage Foundation for the purpose of highlighting American legal history. Tarrant County is now the first county in Texas to put a Ten Commandments monument on public property.
“We applaud the Commissioners Court for taking this bold step for religious liberty,” said First Liberty President & CEO Kelly Shackelford.
“Displaying The Ten Commandments on public grounds in Texas is consistent with Supreme Court decisions that recognize our religious heritage and the best of the nation’s history and traditions,” he added. “The Ten Commandments are a symbol of law and moral conduct with both religious and secular significance for all Americans.”
Hundreds of people attended the event, along with religious and government leaders from the Lone Star State. The ceremony began with a prayer offered by Texas Rep. Nate Schatzline, followed by a brief glimpse into the significance of the Ten Commandments in America’s founding and throughout our nation’s history.
“The Ten Commandments are foundational, historically, to who America was, to what we became, and even where we learn some basic rights and wrongs,” Tim Barton, President of Wallbuilders, shared. “This is a restoration of some basic history and tradition of our nation.”
This week’s First Liberty Live! episode is from the courthouse:
After decades of removing religious monuments and memorials from public spaces, Ten Commandments across the nation are going back up. What changed?
First Liberty’s landmark Supreme Court rulings in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and American Legion v. American Humanist Association changed the legal test for religious expression on public property. The Court overturned decades of bad precedent that caused many historic religious symbols to be scrubbed from the public square. The Court created a new test, writing that “the Establishment Clause must be interpreted by ‘reference to historical practices and understandings.’”
These wins opened huge doors of opportunity to bring back religious expression where it rightfully and legally belongs. But those hard-fought wins can only make a difference when we go forth and boldly live out our faith.
That’s why First Liberty launched Restoring Faith in America—a movement to inspire, educate and activate citizens across the country to go on offense and bring religious expression back to their community.
Restoring Faith in America is leading the way by organizing projects at the state level to help implement laws that encourage and allow for specific types of displays to return to the public square. We also support individual Americans and local leaders—who we call FaithBlazers—as they take action, whether it’s by starting a prayer club at their school, donating “In God We Trust” posters, or working with officials to place Ten Commandments and other historic religious displays in public spaces.
The Tarrant County Ten Commandments display is the fruit of our Supreme Court victories—as well as the work and effort of FaithBlazers in the community who want to honor and celebrate America’s history and heritage.
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