The Washington, D.C.-based American Humanist Association on Tuesday called on Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, to ax his plan to place a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state Capitol after he created an online fundraising account for the monument last week.
A GoFundMe account set up in Rapert's name on Feb. 17 reported that $6,035 in donations have been received for the Arkansas Ten Commandments monument and $10,600 more is needed to complete the fundraising drive. The account reported that $3,035 in donations were received through the GoFundMe account and the other $3,000 was made in direct donations.
The association's Appignani Humanist Legal Center said in a letter dated Tuesday to Rapert that "this letter is to inform you of strong objections to this plan on behalf of Arkansas residents and others who see it as a blatant attempt to promote religion and a clear violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
"By pursuing this project, you are inviting litigation that will come at the expense of Arkansas taxpayers, all for the purpose of promoting your personal religious beliefs," the group's letter states.
The group noted that it has litigated cases involving church-state separation and the rights of humanists, other nontheists and Christians in state and federal courts across the nation, including "a recent victory involving a church-state violation" in Baxter County, in which a federal judge ruled that a Nativity scene displayed on the Baxter County Courthouse grounds violated the First Amendment prohibition on the establishment of religion.
"We respectfully request that you scrap this project and focus your attention on matters that are more relevant to the real-life needs of your constituents," the group's letter said.
In response, Rapert said that "I am committed to following Supreme Court precedent on this issue.
"The Supreme Court approved a Ten Commandments monument on a state Capitol grounds in 2004, and the Eighth Circuit approved a Ten Commandments monument in a public park in 2005," he wrote in an email.
"It is settled law that a Ten Commandments monument such as the one we intend in Arkansas is in full compliance with the Constitution. Act 1231 was passed by 99 out of 135 state legislators and signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2015 and will be fulfilled according to state law," Rapert said.
In April, Hutchinson signed into law legislation requiring the secretary of state to arrange for a privately funded Ten Commandments monument to be placed on the Capitol grounds in Little Rock.
Act 1231 states that the "placing of a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol would help the people of the United States and of the state of Arkansas to know the Ten Commandments as the moral foundation of the law." It requires the secretary of state to permit and arrange for the monument to be designed, constructed and paid for by private entities at no expense to the state. Similar monuments have been constructed in Oklahoma and Texas.
Oklahoma officials removed their monument from the Oklahoma Capitol in October at the order of a county judge. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in June that the monument violated the Oklahoma Constitution.
If the constitutionality of the monument is challenged in court, the attorney general may prepare or present a legal defense of the monument or request the Liberty Institute to prepare and present a legal defense, according to Act 1231. Rapert has said the Liberty Institute has agreed to defend the state for free if asked to do so.
The American History & Heritage Foundation Inc., a nonprofit registered to Travis W. Story of Fayetteville, is listed as the Arkansas monument's private sponsor on the GoFundMe account. The nonprofit filed with the secretary of state's office on Oct. 19 of last year, according to the office's records.
Metro on 02/24/2016