IN Atty Gen’l Todd Rokita reported in a Facebook (“FB”) post that he and his “team” are in “a legal campaign to end a 26-year legal battle.” We should infer use of “legal” [FN1] - twice - was intentional. Rokita shucked Jesus, yet is part of this iteration of the gop, thus 1/19

Rokita has problems w/morality, common decency & coherent underlying theme. His FB post omits Jesus Christ or “God.” He calls the stone “a donated historical monument”: secular. [FN2] His “Christian” nationalist friends must be bummed. [FN3] [FN4] 2/19

Carved in stone on Rokita’s “historical monument” are three problematic writings:
1) The Bill of Rights. That’s the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution [FN5] & yet there is no mention of JC or JC’s dad in the first clause of Amendment One, [FN6] 3/19

2) Preamble to IN’s Constitution. Implicit in Rokita’s “historical monument” on “the Indiana Statehouse lawn” is construing provisions of constitutions as originally intended by those documents’ authors. In 1984, the 1851 Indiana Constitution was amended to insert 4/19

“ALMIGHTY GOD”(sic) into the Preamble and Art. I, §1. Given that the 1851 Constitution had strong language reflecting a belief in separation of church and State [FN7] Rokita MUST support 1851's edition. History teaches that some delegates to the convention that produced 5/19

the 1851 constitution fought including a preamble of the Decl of Independence. Delegate Kelso argued: “the proposition that all men have an equal right to enjoy life, liberty, and property, is not strictly true. [I]f a white man ... falls upon [a black man] and beats him 6/19

unmercifully the black man is not permitted to go into a court of justice and make an affidavit upon which the offender can be arrested.” Also “the black man cannot give testimony.” [FN8] 7/19

3) The Ten Commandments. Some assert these provide general rules for behavior and are not religious. If so, we can drop 1[FN9], 2 [FN10], 3 [FN11], and 4 [FN12] because they mandate worship, do not refer to history & aren’t “historical.” [FN13] 8/19

To honor mom & dad [FN14] generally is okay, but some parents are physically or sexually abusive. This commandment needs a footnote w/that qualification. Independent “sources” exist in the criminal code for 6, murder, [FN15] and 8, theft. [FN16] 9/19

Curbing those behaviors is the goal. If you think it has to originate as a directive from “God,” then it is religious and not historical. Otherwise, the stone can set out Indiana’s statutes for Murder and theft. Finally, the last 3 define trump 10/19

7, adultery [FN17], 9, false witness [FN18], and 10, coveting. [FN19 ] Rokita, it would appear, has decided to morally ambiguous stands, so I can understand his need for guidance. I can tell him where to put that historical monument .... In his office. Not on the Statehouse lawn. 11/19

Footnotes:
FN1. “legal, adj. 1. Of or relating to law; falling within the province of law [] 2. Established, required, or permitted by law...” Black’s Law Dictionary, New Pocket Edition (1996), p. 368.
FN2. “secularism: indifference to or exclusion of religion.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1974), p. 625. 12/19

FN3. See, Sabene Rizvi, “Christian Nationalist policies in Indiana restrict bodily autonomy and religious freedom,” Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 7/28/26, accessed 11/13/26. 13/19

FN4. Rokita’s seeming abandonment of maga is like someone else in the New Testament. See, John 18:25-27 and Luke 22:58-62.
FN5. Id., FN1 at p. 67. 14/19

FN6. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” U.S. Const. Amend I.
FN7. See, West’s Annotated Indiana Code, Constitution (1999), pp. 65-67.
FN8. Journal, Indiana Constitutional convention, p. 971. 15/19

FN9. “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall not have strange gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3.
FN10. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” Exodus 20:5.
FN11. “Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Exodus 20:7 16/19.

FN12. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8.
FN13. “historical: of, pertaining to, treating, or characteristic of history or past events.” Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed., 2001, p. 907. 17/19

FN14. “Honor thy father and mother.” Exodus 20:12.
FN15. “You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13; list I.C. §35-42-1-1.
FN16. “You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15; I.C. §35-43-4-2. 18/19

FN17. “You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14.
FN18. You shall not covet thy neighbor's wife or his ass. Exodus 20:17.
FN19. “You shall not bear false witness.” Exodus 20:16. 19/19