Religious group's monument does not fall under free speech

Utah city is not required to allow 'Seven Aphorisms' in park beside Ten Commandments, court rules.
By David G. Savage
LA Times

February 25, 2009

Reporting from Washington — The 1st Amendment's right of free speech does not require a city in Utah to display a small religious group's "Seven Aphorisms" next to a monument featuring the Ten Commandments in a public park, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously today.

Instead, the court said monuments in a park are the government's property. They are not akin to a speaker standing in a public park voicing his views.

The case arose when a small, home-grown religion called Summum asked to have its aphorisms given equal space in a city park with a monument featuring the Ten Commandments.

The Fraternal Order of Eagles had donated the Ten Commandments monument in 1971 to Pleasant Grove City, Utah. City officials accepted it, and it stood among several historic displays in the city's Pioneer Park.

Four years ago, city officials refused to allow the founders of Summum to erect a stone monument in the same park featuring the religion's "Seven Aphorisms." The new religion, begun in 1975, claimed its sayings were undiscovered messages from Mt. Sinai.

(More here.)