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Groups weigh in on Summum appeal: First Amendment: Briefs filed reflect varied points of view National organizations and municipalities are weighing in on the U.S. Supreme Court case pitting Pleasant Grove vs. Summum, an alternative spiritual community born, and still based, in Salt Lake City. Amicus briefs, as recently as Monday, have been filed by groups including, among others, the American Humanist Association, the Anti-Defamation League, People for the American Way Foundation, the Legal Liberty Institute, as well as the cities of New York, Nashville, Ogden, and a long list of others. The nation's highest court agreed on March 31 to hear an appeal from the Utah County city that wants to block Summum -- a Latin term meaning "the sum total of all creation" -- from displaying its own monument beside the Ten Commandments (donated the Fraternal Order of Eagles) in a city park. The monument, should the organization have its way, would include the group's seven guiding principles, such as the principles of psychokinesis, opposition, cause and effect, and rhythm. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled last year that the city had to permit Summum's display to honor free speech. But Pleasant Grove attorneys, and those submitting briefs on the Utah city's behalf, say allowing this would force cities to either scrap all monuments, no matter how long they've been there or where they originated (for example, gifts from war veterans), or allow each and every proposed addition. In a brief submitted Monday from a number of cities, including Casper, Wyo., attorneys pointed to the demand by Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas whose raison-d'etre is to spew hatred against gays and lesbians. Phelps wanted to add a Matthew Shepard Monument to the city's Historical Monument Plaza. Shepard, a gay 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was tortured, tied to a fence post and left for dead in Laramie, Wyo. His murder brought the issue of hate crime legislation to the national forefront. Phelps' proposed monument would read: "Matthew Shepard Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning" before quoting scripture from Leviticus. While some groups have filed briefs in support of Pleasant Grove, others have not aligned themselves with either party and instead feel the court should disallow religious monuments on municipal property altogether. "It's not the government's job to display the symbols of any faith," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation and State in a written statement. "When government officials allow religious groups to place permanent monuments on public land, the government is accountable for the message. Our government should not -- and, under our Constitution, may not -- pick-and-choose among religions." Summum, which has a sanctuary inside a bronze-colored pyramid off Interstate 15, was established in 1975 by Corky Ra, a former Latter-day Saint whose 1970's encounters with "advanced beings" prompted his spiritual transformation, writings and the religious group's establishment. People who follow Summum's principles practice various forms of meditation and believe in mummification. Ra, who changed his legal name from Claude Rex Newell to Summum Bonum Amon Ra, died at the end of January. He was 63 and is in the process of being mummified. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Pleasant Grove's appeal this fall. The subsequent ruling is likely to impact other monument wranglings, and for that reason is holding up, for example, the Sons of Utah Pioneers' push to build a monument at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Rotary Glen Park. jravitz@sltrib.com
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