INDIANAPOLIS — One by one, state Rep. Jerry Denbo read the Ten Commandments to his colleagues on the House floor.
"If any of you think these are bad principles . . . vote no on the bill," Denbo, D-French Lick, said in closing debate on a bill allowing government entities, including schools, to post the commandments in their buildings.
The House voted 92-7 for the bill Monday and sent it to the Senate, which already has approved a similar measure. It seemed likely that one of the bills will end up on the desk of Gov. Frank O'Bannon.
O'Bannon has said he would sign such a bill if it was constitutional.
Under the bill, the commandments could be posted in schools, courthouses or other government property if displayed with other documents of historical significance that have formed and influenced the U.S. legal system.
The debate comes amid a nationwide push to display the commandments in public venues. Supporters say America based its system of laws on the 10 rules the biblical Book of Exodus says God gave to Moses.
During debate in the Senate, some opponents said such a law would violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
But Rep. Dean Young, R-Hartford City, said Monday he hoped to someday meet God face to face. "Am I going to say to him or her, 'Well, God, I thought it was unconstitutional?' " said Young, who voted for the bill.
The Indiana Civil Liberties Union and its national counterpart, the American Civil Liberties Union, disagree with posting the commandments in public buildings.
Rep. Duane Cheney, D-Portage, one of the seven who voted against the bill, said there were different religious versions of the commandments, something the bill did not address.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled putting the commandments in schools violates First Amendment protections against a government's promoting religion. But new lawsuits are pending, including appeals of a federal judge's ruling to let the city of Elkhart keep a commandments monument on its City Hall lawn.