Vote sought on Ten Commandments

NAMPA, Idaho – A coalition of local religious organizations has asked the Idaho Supreme Court to rule that an initiative to put a Ten Commandments display in a Boise park may be put on the ballot.

The Keep the Commandments Coalition, which was formed in response to Boise’s decision to move a Ten Commandments monument from Julia Davis Park to a church yard across the street from the Capitol, wants voters to decide whether a new monument should be erected in the downtown park.

Last fall, the Coalition gave 18,507 signatures to the city clerk, but 4th District Judge Ronald Wilper ruled that initiatives apply to legislative actions, not to administrative decisions such as the city’s decision.

Boise officials removed the old monument in an effort to head off a legal challenge from a Kansas-based group that wanted to put its own, anti-gay monument in the city park, arguing that if the city had one religious marker it could not discriminate against others.