Freethought Society loses
• Skeptics & Atheists
Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the borough of Hanover in Pennsylvania to have a Ten Commandments monument moved. While winning in county court the decision was reversed by U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Margaret Downey, president of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, said her group sued Chester County over the plaque. “A lot of public business takes place there,” she said Wednesday. “I was defending my atheist lifestyle in the county. The constitution forbids the majority from tyrannizing the minority.”
Her group won in county court before losing in federal court. It wanted to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but could not find the money it would take, Downey said.
She said the experience was not a wash because it opened the doors to discussions of the separation of church and state. She regrets the hate mail and death threats she received.
Caryl Clarke, York Daily Record: Possibilities abound for future of Hanover monument