Pennsylvania churches distribute 1,500 Ten Commandments signs following removal of monument from public school

Three churches in Pennsylvania have distributed approximately 1,500 signs that lists the Ten Commandments in protest of the removal of a Decalogue monument from a public high school in March.

A Ten Commandments display was removed from the campus of Valley High School in March following a legal complaint from an atheist group.

Following the removal, the Immaculate Conception Church of Irwin, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Church of North Huntingdon, and St. Agnes Church of North Huntingdon launched a campaign to distribute Ten Commandments signs to interested residents.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Father John Moineau, pastor of Immaculate Conception and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, said that he felt the signs "would be a good opportunity to express our religious freedom by displaying them in the yards of the parishioners."

"The Second reason was to awaken the natural law that has been written on every human heart and resonating in each soul. In the face of relativism society needs to know that these truths are loving truths that lead to harmony, happiness and the fullness of life," he added.

"The third reason was to remind ourselves as well as those who see the signs that we have been blessed to have been given these commands to help us choose love of God and neighbor and recognize when we fail to do so that there is a merciful God that forgives," the priest continued.

The three churches have thus far distributed approximately 1,500 signs, with Moineau saying that many of their neighbors "have applauded the effort" and have asked for signs of their own.

The legal complaint against the monument was filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) against the New Kensington-Arnold School District in 2012.

The FFRF claimed in the lawsuit that district students have come into contact with the display while attending or visiting the school. The organization demanded the removal of the monument, which had stood outside of Valley High School's gymnasium since 1957, and sought nominal damages, and attorneys' fees and costs.

In 2015, a district court judge ruled against the FFRF, arguing that the complainants have failed to establish that they were forced to come into "direct regular, and unwelcome contact" with the Ten Commandments monuments on the grounds of the school.

Later that year, the organization took the case to the Third Circuit court of Appeals, which overturned the lower court decision.

In February, the school district and the FFRF reached a settlement in the suit, which required the district to pay the legal fees in the case and remove the monument from the school grounds.