Ten Commandments Return To Some Virginia Schools

The Ten Commandments will go back up at schools in one southwest Virginia school system -- but the controversy continues.

The Giles County School Board unanimously decided Thursday to rehang the religious texts. The Roanoke Times reported that board members removed them in December after a letter was sent to school officials from the Freedom of Religion Foundation.

But after complaints from hundreds of parents, the Ten Commandments are going back up at the county’s five schools and a technology center.

More than 200 county residents showed up for a Thursday afternoon board meeting to share their opinions. From the Roanoke Times:

"You have a moral obligation to what is right," Elwood Lambert of Narrows said to the board. "Do not let our future children be deprived of this right -- a God-given right."
The crowd clapped and cheered, and many answered "Amen."

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, told the Roanoke Times she was angered when she heard about the school board's decision.

"Anybody with any common sense could see why you cannot put religious dogma on the walls of the school," she told the paper. "This is just a travesty; it's shocking."