Religious Right twins call for Ten Commandments in government buildings.

A Religious Right group run by twin brothers, the Revs. Paul and Rob Schenck, has launched an effort to have the Ten Commandments displayed in government buildings.

Rob Schenck, who serves as general secretary of the Washington, D.C.-based National Clergy Council, and his brother Paul, the group's chairman and rector of a Reformed Episcopal church in Philadelphia, held a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol April 30 to unveil the "Ten Commandments Project." It is described as an "effort to reintroduce the timeless words of Sinai to the American public."

As part of the effort, the Schencks announced that they are sending Ten Commandments tablets to House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton and requesting that they be displayed prominently in the House chamber, Senate chamber and White House. The group will also urge state and local governments to erect the decalogue at courthouses and other government buildings.

The Ten Commandments, Rob Schenck asserted, are "the foundation for a just and moral society." The Council's effort, he asserted, is a "small but very significant step in the right direction to restore our nation's moral sanity."

A gaggle of second-tier Religious Right figures and far-right members of Congress joined the Schencks at the podium, including the Rev. Pat Mahoney, a radical anti-abortion protestor and head of the Christian Defense Fund; the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition; Howard Phillips of the U.S. Taxpayers Party; Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) and Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.). (Two Republican senators, Robert Smith of New Hampshire and John Ashcroft of Missouri, were scheduled but did not show up.)

Also in attendance was Judge Roy S. Moore of Etowah County, Ala., who became a hero to the Religious Right when he refused to remove a Ten Commandments display from his courtroom or stop opening jury sessions with sectarian prayer. The Alabama Supreme Court recently refused to rule on a legal challenge to Moore's activities, dismissing the case on technical grounds.

The Schencks presented Moore with a poster-sized copy of a non-binding resolution lauding the Ten Commandments approved by the U.S. Senate April 2. The resolution calls for displaying the Ten Commandments in government buildings. The measure requires that such displays be "consistent with the establishment clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," but that language was omitted from Moore's version.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that public schools could not post the Ten Commandments, and lower federal and state courts have struck down their display in courthouses. Asked by Church & State during the press conference if his Council would help local governments with the legal bills when the inevitable lawsuits come, Rob Schenck replied, "There are numerous legal organizations that will be willing to do that, We think they will be easily won."

Critics say the Schenck twins are an odd choice for this type of moralistic crusade, since they can't seem to abide by the Ten Commandments themselves. Both men have records of extreme anti-abortion activism and in 1992 participated in an incident in which a fetus was presented to then-presidential candidate Clinton.

In addition, Paul Schenck is a convicted felon who has served time in prison. He was convicted of "making a false declaration under oath" stemming from an incident in December of 1990 when both Schencks were arrested while blockading a Buffalo abortion clinic, violating a court order in the process. During the demonstration, the two were caught on videotape switching neckties and glasses in an effort to confuse witnesses who might later testify against them in court.

Paul Schenck later lied in court about the switch and denied it had happened. He was convicted in November of 1991 and served a 30-day sentence in 1994. After his release, Paul Schenck went to work for Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice as editor of a magazine called Liberty, Life and Family.