A monument inscribed with the 10 commandments on the lawn of the Bloomfield City Hall in New Mexico was ordered to be removed by a federal judge who said iit contradicts the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge James A. Parker said the city hall monument amounts to government speech. By having the 10 commandments monument on government property, it then appears as though the government is endorses a certain religion.
"I am surprised (by the decision) and had never really considered the judge ruling against it because it's a historical document, just like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights," Bloomfield Mayor Scott Eckstein told The Daily Times. "The intent from the beginning was that the lawn was going to be used for historical purposes, and that's what the council voted on."
Parker's ruling was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union after a suit was filed on behalf of two Bloomfield residents who practice the Wiccan religion in 2012.
"We firmly support the right of individuals, religious groups, and community associations to publicly display religious monuments, but the government should not be in the business of picking which sets of religious beliefs belong at City Hall," Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico executive director told The Associated Press.
Eckstein has 30 days to file an appeal to the judge's request.
