Supreme Court to Consider Request to Display ‘Seven Aphorisms’
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in a case that asks whether a public park is required to display a monument donated by a small religious group called Summum, a name that refers to the sum of all creation.
The Utah park already contains a Ten Commandments display donated in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Brian Barnard, the lawyer for the Summum group, contends the Summum sect has an equal right to display its Seven Aphorisms, the New York Times reports.
At issue in the case is whether the messages on publicly displayed monuments are those of government or the private group that donated them, the First Amendment Center reports. The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the monuments were the equivalent of private speech in a public forum, and the refusal to accept the aphorisms display was an impermissible content-based restriction.
Believers say the aphorisms are a separate set of creation principles that Moses received but discarded because the people were not ready for them. The New York Times story compares the Third Commandment—Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain—and the Third Aphorism—Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.
Summum founder Corky Ra says he learned the aphorisms during a series of telepathic encounters with divine Summa Individuals, according to the story.
