The tribal council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is making plans to mount a copy of the Ten Commandments in the council house where government meetings are held, and possibly display them throughout other public buildings in Cherokee.

The idea was introduced by Councilwoman Angela Kephart last month in the weeks leading up to tribal council elections. Kephart said the tribe should display the Ten Commandments out of respect and devotion to God. Tribal Council unanimously passed the resolution.

Kephart pointed out that pictures of former chiefs adorn the wall in the council house, so why not a message from God, the leader that should come “first and foremost?” At the same time, Kephart said the tribal council would not be forcing Christianity on other people.

“We aren’t saying you have to abide by the Ten Commandments,” Kephart said. “We are simply displaying God’s Ten Commandments. That’s what He expects from each and every individual. If you break that, it is between you and God. It is not between you and the tribal council; it is between you and God.”

When Kephart introduced the idea, Councilwoman Mary Thompsan suggested making more Ten Commandment displays while they were at it and hanging them in other tribal buildings as well, such as the hospital and senior home.

The move comes following several controversial federal court cases involving governmental displays of the Ten Commandments. The general precedent set by those cases is that new displays of the Ten Commandments hung by a government body with the sole purpose of endorsing or promoting Christianity over other religions violates the U.S. Constitution.

But the Constitution does not apply to Cherokee, nor to any other Native American tribe for that matter, according to Cherokee’s Attorney General David Nash.

“We are a sovereign nation and we can pretty much post anything we want in our council chambers,” said Kephart. “For once the federal government is not going to tell us what to do. We can feel good about it because we are standing up for God. The more it becomes controversial, the more we need to stand firm.”

Not everyone in Cherokee is thrilled with the idea of displaying the Ten Commandments, however.

“I can’t think of a reason why anyone would want to do anything that violates the Constitution in principle, whether we have to abide by it or not,” said Hugh Lambert, a Cherokee tribal member. “It is an attempt to enforce religious beliefs on those who don’t necessarily believe in it. It is a parochial statement for a particular type of religious belief.”

Many tribal members saw the move to display the Ten Commandments as politically motivated. Lambert asked how many of the council members were truly motivated by what he called “heartfelt conviction?”

“I think it was election-time posturing,” Lambert said. “I think a show of piety is no substitute for substantive governing.”

Lambert said many tribal members feel the same way but are afraid to speak up. Lambert wrote a letter to the editor in the Cherokee newspaper, The Cherokee One Feather, and has been criticized in the community for his stance, even though he is baptized as a Christian himself.

Lambert said there are Jews and Muslims in Cherokee, those who follow traditional Cherokee spiritual beliefs instead of Christianity, and atheists.

“Certainly there are non-Christians that find this show of Abrahamic law at least uncomfortable and at worst offensive,” Lambert said. “At a time when the country is struggling toward tolerance and acceptance of diversity, it seems like a polarizing act.”

Kephart was up front about her desire to promote Christianity.

“God has blessed our tribe. We have a very rich tribe, per se. We are operating on over a $200 million budget thanks to our gaming enterprise,” Kephart said.

Kephart was quick to say that God did not give the tribe gaming, given some of the ill effects gambling can cause.

“I don’t think God would have that be his first choice as an enterprise for us,” Kephart said. “But I feel like he could take a good thing away from us if we don’t manage it correctly. So I think the least we could do was to show respect to Him.”

Elsewhere in the country, when governments post the Ten Commandments or Christian symbols, they avoid lawsuits by allowing other religious displays, too, be it Jewish, Hindu or Wiccan.

But Kephart does not support the idea of opening up the council house walls to other religious displays.

“I think just the Ten Commandments. That has always been a tradition over the years,” Kephart said.

Following the Ten Commandments to the letter can be challenging, Kephart admitted. Girls who have been sexually abused by their father, for example, would be hard-pressed to “Honor thy father and thy mother.”

But Kephart said there are several contradictions on the surface of things.

“It’s like ‘thou shall not covet.’ Well everyone wants what their neighbor has,” Kephart said. “It also says ‘thou shalt not steal,’ but the people in New Orleans are starving and going into stores to steal the food.”

Freedom of religion on tribal lands

David Nash, attorney general for the Eastern Band, said the Constitution does not apply to Indian tribes because they were here before the United States, preceding the United States laws, and therefore sovereign nations.

Sovereignty is a sticky area, legally, however. Tribes are required to abide by the Indian Civil Rights Act passed by Congress to protect basic civil rights of tribal members, who are also considered citizens of the United States. The Indian Civil Rights Act isn’t nearly as strict as the Bill of Rights, however. The Bill of Rights says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” while the Indian Civil Rights Act says “No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.”

Posting the Ten Commandments doesn’t prevent others from practicing their religion, the Cherokee’s attorney general David Nash said

“Anybody can practice any religion they want to practice,” Nash said.

Nash said the Indian Civil Rights Act doesn’t stop the tribal government from promoting, endorsing or establishing a religion.

“The reason why the establishment (of religion) clause wasn’t included in the Indian Civil Rights Act is because many tribes have a religious basis for their fundamental tribal organization,” Nash said.

While Indian tribes have more flexibility to incorporate religion into their governments, for most tribes that translates into the tribe’s traditional religious beliefs rather than Christianity, which was introduced by white people and forced on Indian tribes.

“A number of Indian governments are very traditional and very closely associated with the religious life of the Indian nation or the tribe, said Tim Coulter, an attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center. “Sometimes there is almost no distinction between the spiritual leadership and the government leadership. They are one and the same.”

Coulter, who works in Montana, said a tribe endorsing Christianity is a new thing to him.

“I’ve never heard of the Ten Commandments being posted. The examples I know of involve traditional Indian religion, but the principle is the same,” Coulter said. “It is up to the Indian people themselves to make the rules and it is their life and their government.”

Like Nash said, “Most people here are Christian. There is nothing to prevent the tribe from acknowledging that fact.”