By Allie Martin
October 3, 2006

(AgapePress) - The first vote on the public display of the Ten Commandments takes place in one Idaho city next week.

More than 40 years ago, a civic group donated a Ten Commandments monument to the city of Boise. That monument stood in a public park until it was removed in 2004 by city officials who refused to allow residents to vote on the issue. But on Tuesday (November 7), Boise voters will decide the fate of a referendum that, if approved, would return the monument to the park.

Brandi Swindell with the Keep the Commandments Coalition says the vote is actually a referendum on God's Word. "We believe this is about cherishing the values and the principles found in the Ten Commandments," she shares. "This is about embracing the universal truths found in the Ten Commandments."

Earlier this year the Idaho Supreme Court ordered the election after attempts by residents for a referendum were rebuffed. Swindell is hopeful for a victory, of course, but also that the Boise vote will begin a groundswell of support elsewhere in America.

"We believe that this [vote] is about religious liberty," she remarks, "and this affects all of Americans because what we've done here in Boise can be done around the nation and can be done in different communities." Her organization collected more than 19,000 signatures on a petition calling for an election.

Swindell says polls have shown that most Boise residents do not mind having the Commandments on public display.