>>shaking head<<

It's not about someone being offended. It's about what the government can and cannot do.

Much like the whole sodomy ordeal in Texas - that wasn't about gay rights, it was about privacy. The majority opinion said as much: "The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court's majority. "The state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime."

The problem is, people make it out to what it's not - in the case of the Alabama court, people are making it out that the people who say it should be removed are anti-christian. Obviously, some people are, but that's not what the issue is, and never has been. Nobody is saying you can't engage in Christian acts - you can do them wherever you want - even in a public building. You just can't have any government agency organizing it or endorsing it.

States used to be able to do what they want - the First Amendment only applies to the Federal Government. However, that changed with the 14th Amendment: “no state shall ... deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law... .” It's not something new either, as far back as 1947 the court ruled on establishment as it pertains to states (Everson v. Board of Education). Part of that decision: "The establishment of religion clause means at least this: Neither a state nor the federal government may set up a church. Neither can pass laws that aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion... . Neither a state or the federal government may, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between church and state.'" (See, there's that quote of Jefferson's again!)

The fact is, it doesn't matter about offending - everyone has the right to have equal participation in the government - and if the Ten Commandments were to stay, that knocks some people out - Atheists, Polytheists (sp?), etc.