I may be late with this one, but this news flash from W’s America just came across my desk. And I say that because only in W’s America would believer’s in the 10 commandments send death threats to the guy who took the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
The man at the center of a challenge to remove a Ten Commandments monument displayed in a public park said he feared for his safety after a newspaper revealed his name Sunday.
The Omaha World-Herald in its Sunday editions identified the man, an atheist, who brought the suit against the city of Plattsmouth in 2001 with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Last September, a federal judge declined a request from the ACLU to stop the paper from naming the man, whom the Associated Press is not identifying.
On Sunday, the man said in a statement released through the ACLU that he regretted the paper’s decision to release his name and would continue to fear for his safety in the town just south of Omaha.
But it gets much worse than that. The paper did more than just reveal his name.
Besides identifying the man, the story also listed the type of car he drives and his license plate, which is related to his atheist affiliation. The story detailed his personal and professional life and quoted co-workers. Some of the man’s writing on religion and Christianity were also quoted as were depositions in which he detailed threats made against him and his family.
Last year the man said he would consider moving from Plattsmouth, should his name be revealed, because his life had been threatened.
It’s probably asking way to much to expect that the folks sending the death threats over the 10 commandments would have read down as far as, say, number six. Of course, if you want to split hairs, it says “thou shall not kill,” not “thou shall not threaten to kill. Therein lies the difference, right?
