Gov. Jennifer Granholm now says she wouldn't support displaying the Ten Commandments in the Capitol Rotunda, calling such a display unconstitutional.
During a taping Friday of public television's "Off the Record" program, however, Granholm said she didn't have a problem with having the commandments at the Statehouse.
"I know that will make some people mad. But I think they are universal values," she said on the show.
She added that, while the government should not be promoting religion, the Ten Commandments promote "a universal desire for people to behave with dignity and honor God."
"That is not promoting a particular religion. That is just recognizing some universal values," she said.
Granholm now says she was expressing her personal opinion, not encouraging such a display.
"I'm not interested in violating the United States Constitution," she said Monday.
Her earlier comments had dismayed the American Civil Liberties Union but brought an enthusiastic response from the Midland-based American Family Association of Michigan.
AFA-Michigan said in a statement that it would seek Granholm's sponsorship for a temporary display of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Ray Moore's Ten Commandments monument at the Capitol and start a nonprofit foundation to raise money for a permanent display of the Ten Commandments there.
Moore was removed from the Alabama court in November 2003 when he refused a federal judge's order to remove the monument from public display in the rotunda of the state judicial building in Montgomery, Ala. He appealed his ouster to the U.S. Supreme Court, but lost.
AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn said Monday that he was disappointed by Granholm's comments Monday.
"The question of constitutionality is an unresolved question, and in fact the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on that question in two weeks," he said.
He said the governor apparently capitulated over the weekend to pressure from the ACLU and anti-religious groups.
Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said the governor simply was following the courts' lead.
"The governor is a faithful person and believes strongly in the values embodied by the Ten Commandments. But she also must uphold the law, and courts have ruled the public display of the Ten Commandments is The U.S. Supreme Court in early March will hear arguments on lawsuits involving a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol and framed copies of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky county courthouses.
ACLU of Michigan spokeswoman Wendy Wagenheim said the group was glad the governor had recognized the constitutional problems with displaying the Ten Commandments in a public building.
"We were pleased that she took that position," Wagenheim said.
"We have a diverse state. ... For the best of every citizen in Michigan, the state can't be promoting religion," Wagenheim said.