Judge Dismisses Ten Commandments Monument Suit

Salt Lake City, USA - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, over a monument that displays the Ten Commandments.

A religious sect called Summum wanted to erect a display of its Seven Aphorisms in the same park where the Ten Commandments monument stands, but U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball ruled that Pleasant Grove did not violate the U.S. Constitution by accepting a Ten Commandments monument in a city park and denying a Summum monument.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that Summum could not force the city to accept its monument and that governments can decide what to display without violating the First Amendment, but Summum continued to press its case by arguing that governments can't favor one religion over another.

Kimball said the city displayed the Ten Commandments for historical purposes, not religious.