The Ten Commandments ... on eBay?

September 13, 2005 8:51 AM

In July, Georgia federal judge William C. O’Kelley ordered Barrow County to remove a Ten Commandments plaque from its courthouse. The suit was filed by ACLU Georgia, which not only succeeded in getting the plaque removed, but also recovered $150,000 in attorneys’ fees and expenses. Ten Commandments-Georgia pledged to reimburse the county for its legal expenses. In order for the group to raise the last $52,000 it needs to meet that pledge, it has put the actual Ten Commandments plaque that was removed from the courthouse under the order of the court up for auction on eBay.
posted by monju_bosatsu (40 comments total)

see ? religion is worth something after all .
posted by mishaco at 8:54 AM on September 13, 2005 [1 favorite]

46 bids and counting. I wonder how this sale will stack up against the Grilled Cheese Jesus et al. that have appeared on eBay in the past
posted by markovitch at 8:54 AM on September 13, 2005

Wow. This will be interesting to watch.
posted by voltairemodern at 8:56 AM on September 13, 2005

It would be so cool if there was some reflecto porn in the auction ad.
posted by LarryC at 8:57 AM on September 13, 2005

46 bids and counting

Albeit that most of them are from 2 bidders.
posted by biffa at 8:58 AM on September 13, 2005

If only Jesus had a PayPal account...
posted by NationalKato at 8:59 AM on September 13, 2005

moral terrorism of the ACLU.

This is why I hate you, let me try to explain.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 9:01 AM on September 13, 2005

I'm happy that shipping is free.
posted by goatdog at 9:02 AM on September 13, 2005

It's a nice wall hanging and all that if you are believer, but is it really worth three grand (and that is with eight days to go)? I wonder what this would go for?
posted by caddis at 9:03 AM on September 13, 2005

You have a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a piece of history that will remind generations to come of these modern patriots who stood against the moral terrorism of the ACLU.

Once in a lifetime? Does that mean you dumb assholes are done with this post-the-Ten Commandments-on-every-available-surface shit?
posted by Optimus Chyme at 9:05 AM on September 13, 2005

Haha, I am so going to buy this thing and blow it up!
posted by mikeh at 9:08 AM on September 13, 2005

Optimus Chyme writes "Once in a lifetime? Does that mean you dumb assholes are done with this post-the-Ten Commandments-on-every-available-surface shit?"

heh heh.
posted by OmieWise at 9:09 AM on September 13, 2005

OK, now that I've taken the time to look, it seems that it is a small framed piece of paper and not a stone statue, so it'd be a lot less cool to blow up. Anyone else notice how their organization looks like a baseball logo?
posted by mikeh at 9:10 AM on September 13, 2005

Ya'll havin' a good time?
posted by Witty at 9:15 AM on September 13, 2005

Barrow County commissioners authorized a payment of $150,001 to the American Civil Liberties Union and the resident to be paid today with taxpayer dollars.

Holy crap, the public at large has to pay for a pet project of these commissioners? I'm amazed they aren't covering the tab personally.

The identity of the person who sued the county has remained a secret. “I hope he signs it and endorses it so when it comes back, we’ll know who he is,” [Chairman Doug] Garrison said of the check to John Doe. “I don’t expect it ever to be cashed.”

With that and the alleged cronyism taking place there, the Christian themes here are surreal.
posted by rolypolyman at 9:21 AM on September 13, 2005

...but is it really worth three grand...

It's probably not worth three cents! The point of the eBay auction is to raise money to reimburse the county for legal costs. Otherwise, I'd print up a copy of the Sermon on the Mount on really nice paper and see what I could get for it on eBay. (One wonders if the fundies would even recognize its provenance.)
posted by alumshubby at 9:23 AM on September 13, 2005

Witty

...isn't.
posted by solid-one-love at 9:25 AM on September 13, 2005

“I hope he signs it and endorses it so when it comes back, we’ll know who he is,” [Chairman Doug] Garrison said of the check to John Doe. “I don’t expect it ever to be cashed.”

I bet it gets cashed by ACLU Georgia, as they're the ones that incurred the legal expenses the judgment is intended to reimburse.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:26 AM on September 13, 2005

the moral terrorism of the ACLU...

Oh, thats priceless... the ALCU should print that up on t-shirts and bumper stickers.
posted by R. Mutt at 9:33 AM on September 13, 2005

Ten Commandments-Georgia's take on foundations for a moral society:


posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:37 AM on September 13, 2005

Ya'll havin' a good time?
posted by Witty at 9:15 AM PST on September 13

Don't be so butthurt; if Barrow County didn't want to pay legal fees, they shouldn't have pressed on with a case they were clearly going to lose. It's a goddamn shame that the money comes out of taxpayer funds, but I guess that's a lesson learned.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 9:40 AM on September 13, 2005

posted by elpapacito at 9:40 AM on September 13, 2005

Doesn't their plant decoration have a striking likeness of any thing ... that is in the earth, and consequently gets them the smackdown by contravening C2/10? And how about them starting the auction on a Sunday? Sounds like they were working to me, so that's C4/10 crossed, too.

LarryC, there may be no reflectoporn, but do you think they could have done better by keeping the reflection of the coat hanger, the empty coke bottle, the water bottle, and the guy in the wrinkly t-shirt out of the image?

And monju_bosatsu, that diagram looks awful like sharia to me. And it's a pyramid; them Masons, I tell ya...
posted by scruss at 9:42 AM on September 13, 2005

elpapacito: Which god?
posted by afx114 at 9:48 AM on September 13, 2005

You know what's sad...those aren't even the right commandments.
posted by MikeKD at 9:57 AM on September 13, 2005

You know what's sad...those aren't even the right commandments.

You know, it's a shame we've shortened the first one. That writing has some real flare.
posted by sbutler at 10:12 AM on September 13, 2005

A++++! Great seller, amazing product, exactly as described! Hoping for more lawsuits in the future so I can buy more!
posted by PlusDistance at 10:19 AM on September 13, 2005

It's it just me, or is anyone else just a bit shocked at how incredibly tacky that little chink in the wall was? It seriously looks like they found it at some mall.
posted by cytherea at 10:23 AM on September 13, 2005

Oh, oh.... they're *learning*...!
posted by MeatLightning at 10:25 AM on September 13, 2005

1st comment post!

Hi mom!
posted by MeatLightning at 10:25 AM on September 13, 2005

Where's Goldenpalace.com when you need them?
posted by greatgefilte at 10:32 AM on September 13, 2005

So, would it upset them if I won the auction and then sent them a picture of me defecating on it?
posted by fenriq at 10:33 AM on September 13, 2005

Zero feedback!? Pff.
posted by delmoi at 10:42 AM on September 13, 2005

fenriq - You're an idiot.
posted by Necker at 11:30 AM on September 13, 2005

You know what's sad...those aren't even the right commandments.
posted by MikeKD at 9:57 AM PST on September 13 [!]

This never ceases to crack me up:

Fundy: We should put the ten commandments up in courtrooms!

Me: But that would be respecting an establishment of religion, and make non-Christians think they can't get justice.

Fundy: That doesn't matter, this is a Christian nation!

Me: Um, you do know that you guys can't even agree on what the 10 commandments are, right? If you put up a printed version of them, you're discriminating against other Christians.

Fundy: But, um, Christian nation!

Also it cracks me up that the images on the e-bay page are broken.

And what Optimus Chyme said. (That should just be my sig).
posted by jlub at 11:30 AM on September 13, 2005

I'm with greatgefilte... I'd love to see GoldenPalace-dot-com buy it. Hey, Ralph Reed does business with casinos all the time, so why not?
posted by BoringPostcards at 11:37 AM on September 13, 2005

fenriq: Only if you then auctioned the picture to pay for the First Amendment trial that would be inevitably pressed upon you by them.
posted by FormlessOne at 11:38 AM on September 13, 2005

From the auction: "Shipping insurance
Not offered"

So, if it gets damaged in the mail, say by an act of god, then you're out of luck...
posted by birdsquared at 2:01 PM on September 13, 2005

That is one seriously tacky Ten Commandments. It should have been removed for that reason alone.
posted by dhartung at 8:27 PM on September 13, 2005

For the sake of completeness, here's the resolution:

A local car dealer had the winning bid of $7600 (a far cry from the money the county needed to pay the bill). He's going to keep it in trust until the day comes when he can proudly re-hang it at the courthouse.

More here.
posted by ewagoner at 6:06 AM on September 23, 2005