May the government sponsor religious displays inside and around governmental buildings?
Yes. The Supreme Court has noted that there are countless illustrations of the “Government’s acknowledgment of our religious heritage and governmental sponsorship of graphic manifestations of that heritage.”1 For example, the Court pointed out that the Supreme Court chamber “is decorated with a notable and permanent—not seasonal—symbol of religion: Moses with Ten Commandments. Congress has long provided chapels in the Capitol for religious worship and meditation.”2 In spite of our heritage of governmental religious expression, federal courts across the country are currently grappling with cases concerning the constitutionality of governmental exhibition of religious displays inside and around governmental buildings. Even though courts have relied on similar factors in analyzing these cases, courts have inconsistently decided factually similar cases.3 But the Supreme Court has recently instructed that government should not make itself an indifferent adversary to religion but should resp
