Lansing, USA - Exhibiting copies of the Ten Commandments in government and school buildings, approved by three of every four Michiganians, got an endorsement Thursday from the House of Representatives.
House members approved a bill allowing such displays by a 74-34 margin before leaving the capital on their two-week Easter break
Fifty-eight Republicans and 16 Democrats voted for the measure rather than wait for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether such displays violate the nation's traditional philosophy separating church and state.
House Bill 4433 is now headed for the Senate, where action will be postponed until the high court rules.
The Supreme Court's decision is expected later this year in a case combining lawsuits from Kentucky and Texas.
"It wouldn't be prudent to vote on it before the Supreme Court decided," said Ari Adler, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming.
A Detroit News poll conducted in January by Mitchell Research in East Lansing indicated that Michigan residents strongly side with proponents of the legislation.
Three-fourths of respondents said it's proper to display the Ten Commandments in government buildings, while 20 percent objected.
House supporters of the legislation argued that the U.S. Constitution and system of laws are based on the moral principles described in the Bible as handed from God to the prophet Moses on tablets of stone.
Rep. Jack Hoogendyk toured the state earlier this month with a marble Ten Commandments display.
He said the collection of divine edicts "is not about religion. It's about law . . . from the creator."
"There was a tremendous outpouring of support wherever we went," said Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo.
His six-stop trip with the 2.6-ton granite monument included a visit to the state Capitol grounds.
The sculpture has become an attraction since it was ordered out of Alabama's court headquarters in 2003.
A federal judge outlawed its display in the government building on constitutional grounds.
In the House debate, Rep. Steven Tobocman of Detroit opposed the bill. He said his grandparents were among East Europeans who came to America to escape religious intolerance and gain the freedom to worship as they choose.
"This country has a number of religious peoples who do not necessarily subscribe to the Ten Commandments," Tobocman said.
Critics of the bill pointed to a law professor's testimony questioning claims of the Ten Commandments' connection to the U.S. Constitution.
The Magna Carta, common law and the British Bill of Rights shaped our justice system, not the commandments, the committee was told by Michigan State University professor Frank Ravitch.
The scholar advised lawmakers that legal precedent suggests the commandments are religious documents and can't be displayed in government buildings without violating the constitution.