La Crosse — While he is a supporter of the separation of church and state, Rabbi Saul Prombaum, spiritual leader of Congregation Sons of Abraham in La Crosse, thinks it’s a waste of taxpayer’s money for the city government to appeal a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb regarding placement of a Ten Commandments monument in a city park.
The city’s Common Council decided to do this two weeks ago, at around the same time that in Alabama, State Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore received national attention for his unsuccessful battle to keep a huge granite Ten Commandments monument he had placed in the state’s judicial building.
In La Crosse, Crabb ruled on July 14 that having the monument there violates the U.S. Constitution’s separation of church and state.
The five-and-a-half-foot tall monument — which Prombaum described as “just a lump of stone” — was donated to the city by the Eagles Club in 1965. “To avoid the church/state clash, the city sold the park to the club last year,” Prombaum explained.
However, Crabb ordered the site to be returned to the city, the monument to be removed and the city to pay legal costs for the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and 22 local plaintiffs.
“Unfortunately,” Prombaum said, “the city council voted [on Aug. 14] to appeal her decision to the 7th District U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago. The council voted 15-2 to over-ride a veto of the appeal by our mayor [John Medinger].”
In other words, the appeal to leave the monument in its present location is progressing.
Prombaum said he’s not certain, but he wouldn’t be surprised if some of his congregants had signed on as plaintiffs seeking the monument’s removal.
“Jews are usually at the forefront of separation of church/state issues because we have benefited from such actions,” Prombaum said. “This battle is really taking place on the secular stage and there has been no backlash Jewishly.”
“My opinion is that people shouldn’t rely on a stone monument, but rather have such teachings imbedded in our being. The monument is not the Torah,” Prombaum said.
He added, “Personally, I think it’s time to move on. Our money can be better spent. I don’t think the Jewish community is divisive on the issue. But some in the Christian community don’t want outsiders coming in and telling [the La Crosse community] what to do. They may perceive it as Christian-bashing by atheists. For some it is a religious issue.”
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