Reply #22: Here's my ignorant / agnostic take:

[Hanuman]

The 10 commandments have been adopted by most christian denominations as God's de-facto statement about morality and law. The framers, being mostly christian, I presume, held THESE "laws" above all other admonitions in the Bible as the synopsis of God's will for man's behavior- the Idiot's Guide, if you will.

These, in fact, have served as the basis of much of our basic law. Since the Declaration of Independence asserts that our rights come not from other men, but from God, the word of God or God's law and OUR law must be inextricably tied.

That said, my libertarian leaning ideals compel me to believe that if we are to allow the 10 Commandments to be displayed in a public area, we should also allow imagery or reference to Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam in public areas. I have no direct problem with the 10 Commandments being displayed as I do believe they are a piece of our history and heritage- they are in fact part of how we got where we are today.