American Civil Liberties Union

The Public Square

Religion is pervasive in the public square in the United States — and it is constitutionally protected. Some people, however, mistakenly use the word "public" when they really mean "governmental." This can be seen, for example, with Ten Commandments monuments. The issue is not "religion in the public square" — as the rhetoric misleadingly suggests — but whether the government should be making decisions about whose sacred texts and symbols should be placed on government property and whose should be rejected. More