Two Plaques Added In Answer To Atheists Post Complements Caldwell’s Ten Commandments Display

In front of City Hall, next to a marble monument bearing the Ten Commandments, is an answer to atheism.

The white post bears two plaques. One features Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The other explains that the display is not intended to endorse any particular religious belief.

The city erected the post Wednesday in response to a request from Daniel Foster, Idaho director of American Atheists Inc., that the city erect a monument to atheism that would be equal to the prominence to the Ten Commandments monument at City Hall.

The City Council denied Foster’s request Aug. 18 and directed the new display be erected to answer any constitutional challenges that might arise.

“This is as far as we intend to go with this matter,” Mayor Dick Winder said. “If (opponents to the monument) choose to go further, they can take it to court.”

After the council’s denial of his request, Foster said he would contact the national office of American Atheists for possible legal action.

Caldwell followed the example set by Bannock County officials two years ago when they faced a similar situation in Pocatello.

At that time, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled Bannock County had succeeded in putting the Ten Commandments monument in a secular context that made it constitutional by adding a monument similar to the one erected in Caldwell last week.

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