Roadside religious messages could proliferate

WHITLEY CITY, Ky. -- It's one of the more conspicuous road signs on U.S. 27, a scenic route that meanders through the Daniel Boone National Forest en route to a popular recreational area on Lake Cumberland.

"WARNING!!! Jesus is coming! RU Ready" -- such proclamations, already common throughout the Bible Belt, could become more commonplace along roadsides nationwide following recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that amounted to a split verdict on displays of the Ten Commandments on government property.

"People want to do something to reflect their principles, and that's one way they can legally do it," said Don Swarthout, head of the Kentucky-based Christians Reviving America's Values.

The high court ruled last month that displays of the Ten Commandments on government property must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure they don't violate the Constitution. In a pair of 5-4 rulings, the court allowed the Ten Commandments to be displayed outside the Texas state Capitol but not inside two Kentucky courthouses, where the justices said they promoted a religious message.

While some groups have vowed to continue fighting for the right to post biblical passages in public buildings, others are enjoying their constitutional privilege to post them where they're certain to be seen -- in places of prominence on private property along roads and interstate highways.

Some are opting for displays on billboards. Others are using hand-scrawled signs on lawns or cow pastures. Yet others are putting bumper stickers on their cars.

A drive-by congregation

Jimmie Greene, a retired judge-executive in southeastern Kentucky, said he put a placard of the Ten Commandments on his lawn, as did most of his neighbors, after a judge first ruled that the display in the McCreary County courthouse had to come down.

"You should have seen it," he said. "The landscape was covered with Ten Commandments." Churches, in particular, have begun making use of their marquees to display short Biblical passages that are known as "sentence sermons." Christian business owners are also incorporating the messages on their outdoor advertising.

"We're kind of a sound bite society," said L. James Harvey, of Grand Rapids, Mich., author of three books of sentence sermons. "I'm trying to convince churches that they have a drive-by congregation, and they can reach out to them with these messages and sometimes change a life." Jim Ratliff, owner of Lighthouse Christian Bookstore near Pikeville, said he is seeing strong sales of ornamental license plates that allow people to share their messages with other motorists on their cars. "Got Jesus?," one asks. "God Is My Co-Pilot," another proclaims.

"Those license plates make as many statements as you could possibly make," he said.

Others prefer bumper stickers or T-shirts adorned with a list of the Ten Commandments or messages like "Smile, God Loves You."

"It's about freedom of speech," Swarthout said. "It's about sharing principles for people to live by." Such displays are also not likely to draw much controversy. Critics of the displays of the Ten Commandments on government property, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, said they have no problem with these kinds of public pronouncements.

"They should do it in their homes, in their religious institutions, on their cars, in their businesses and not through their government," said David Friedman, who successfully argued the ACLU's case against the two Kentucky courthouses before the Supreme Court. "The government is all of ours, and it can only be all of ours when it remains neutral."