The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling for the removal of a Ten Commandments plaque from the historic Rhea County (Tenn.) Courthouse — the site of the famed 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial.

FFRF co-hosted the Scopes Trial Centennial Conference in Chattanooga last weekend alongside the Center for Inquiry. As part of the event, attendees visited the courthouse in Dayton, where John T. Scopes was famously tried 100 years ago for teaching evolution in defiance of Tennessee’s religiously motivated ban. To their dismay, several participants noticed a Ten Commandments plaque on public display in the building, a clear violation of the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. FFRF also received a separate complaint about the display from a Rhea County resident.

“It’s outrageous that a century after the Scopes trial, Rhea County is still promoting religious dogma rather than upholding constitutional neutrality,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “The county has no business favoring religion in a public courthouse — especially not one that symbolizes the fight for secular, science-based education.”

FFRF has sent a letter to Rhea County Mayor Jim Vincent urging the removal of the Ten Commandments. FFRF points out that such displays have been repeatedly struck down by federal courts, including in a 2005 Supreme Court case involving a nearly identical display in two Kentucky courthouses. The nation’s highest court made clear that showcasing the Ten Commandments in public buildings violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by promoting religion.

FFRF explains that the religious nature of the Ten Commandments is undeniable. The text explicitly demands belief in a monotheistic god and lays out religious duties and prohibitions rooted in specific faith doctrines. “The government has no business telling citizens which god they must have, how many gods they must have, or that they must have any god at all,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg writes.

“The Scopes trial was about resisting religious control over public institutions and a hundred years later, Rhea County is still getting that wrong,” adds Gaylor. “County courthouses should reflect our shared civic values, not religious dogma.”

FFRF is urging Rhea County officials to respect the history and constitutional obligations of the courthouse by removing the religious display and ensuring that public buildings remain inclusive to all citizens — regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 500 members and a chapter in Tennessee. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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