The 10 Commandments monument was put in place on the Capitol grounds this morning and Sen. Jason Rapert, the evangelist who sponsored legislation to enable it, was on hand to preen before the cameras.

He insisted the monument — paid by private contributions — will withstand the legal challenge promised by the ACLU and others to state promotion of religion on the Capitol grounds. He rests his case on Texas’ similar monument — a relic from a movie decades ago that had become so enshrined and essentially invisible that the courts allowed it to stand when a challenge was raised many years later. More recently, courts ordered removal of a monument in Oklahoma.

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As Rapert was giving TV interviews, a young man drove by and shouted, “Separation of church and state. It’s unconstitutional.” A man who’d accompanied Rapert to the event responded: “No it’s not.”

My comment to Rapert was that the visible symbol of the Biblical teachings so close to the Capitol surely will bring an end to lying, adultery and thievery of state money in the General Assembly. So there’s that.

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I have a 45-second clip of Rapert’s declamation on Facebook, on below.

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