Arkansas lawmakers approve Ten Commandments monument on state grounds

The Arkansas legislature has overwhelmingly passed a bill requiring a monument of the Ten Commandments to be displayed on the state capitol grounds.

The bill passed the House 72-7 and the Senate 27-7.

The legislation directs the secretary of state to work on setting up the Ten Commandments monument. The bill made clear, though, that any monument would be privately funded.

It now goes to Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, though it's unclear whether he would sign it.

The bill states that Arkansas residents need to know the Ten Commandments because they influenced "the development of what has become modern law.”

But critics worry about the implications. State Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock, told the Arkansas News, “When the Europeans fled Britain to come to the United States they were seeking, among other things, to be rid of an established religion.”

A Supreme Court case cited in the bill, VanOrden v. Perry, upheld the argument that the Texas government could display a monument of the Ten Commandments. There have been a few individual Supreme Court cases that dealt with religious monuments on government grounds, with different outcomes.