© 2025 WUKY
background_fid.jpg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

'Historic restoration': Resolution would seek to return Ten Commandments monument to Kentucky Capitol

Visitors walk past a monument of the Ten Commandments outside the Capitol, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Paul Weber)
Paul Weber/AP
/
AP
Visitors walk past a monument of the Ten Commandments outside the Capitol, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Paul Weber)

Kentucky lawmakers have moved one step closer to formally calling for the return of a Ten Commandments monument to the state Capitol Grounds.

The granite monument, given to the state by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1971, was originally located near the floral clock on Capitol Grounds.

It was removed in the 1980s for a construction project and never replaced. An effort to return the monument in 2000 failed a court challenge, but Rep. Shane Baker says a recent high court decision paves a path to bring it back.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared up the legal issues that had sent it back to Hopkinsville and has made history and tradition standard. Returning the monument to the Capitol Grounds is historic restoration and acknowledges the history and tradition of the Commonwealth," Baker said.

Two lawmakers expressed moderate reservations about the proposed return of the monument, asking whether similar markers tied to other faiths would be allowed and if the state is inviting another legal challenge.

"It gives me a little heartburn around separation of of church and state," Rep. Joshua Watkins noted. "But I would just like to have some more conversations. I hope we can come to an agreement on the floor."

The joint resolution calling for the return of the Decalogue monument now heads to the full House.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.