Court takes on Commandments case

The issue of Ten Commandments monuments is controversial

In a surprise move, the US Supreme Court has agreed to rule on whether it is legal to display the Ten Commandments on government property.

Justices will hear appeals on the politically sensitive issue involving displays in Texas and Kentucky.

Lower courts in the US have recently made a number of contradictory rulings on the issue.

The US constitution's First Amendment holds that church and state should be kept firmly apart.

In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that a Kentucky law requiring schools to post copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional.

Two appeals

The justices will hear an appeal by Thomas Van Orden, a homeless lawyer from Austin, Texas, who lost a lawsuit to have a 2m (6ft) red granite monument removed from the grounds of the state Capitol.

The court will also consider whether a Kentucky court wrongly barred the posting of copies of the Ten Commandments in the state's courthouses.

Last week, it rejected an appeal from Alabama's former Chief Justice, Roy Moore, who lost his job after refusing to remove a copy of the Ten Commandments from a court building.

The Ten Commandments case could be the [biggest] blockbuster religious liberty case that the Supreme Court has seen in a really long time Mathew Staver Liberty Counsel law group

A federal court judge had ruled that the monument violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

These contradictory rulings in a country with such a powerful Christian lobby worry those who believe in the separation of church and state, says the BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington.

They also lend encouragement to those who long for US politics to be rooted in the Christian faith, our correspondent says.

"The Ten Commandments case could be the [biggest] blockbuster religious liberty case that the Supreme Court has seen in a really long time," Mathew Staver of the conservative law group Liberty Counsel, who represents the Kentucky counties, told the Associated Press news agency.

The Supreme Court has said it will make its latest ruling in the new year.

According to the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments are the divine rules of ethical conduct given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

They include directives against stealing, killing and adultery.