Supreme Court Hears Summum Seven Aphorisms Case, Public Fascinated by Mummies

There are seven deadly sins (which half of America knows because of the movie Se7en), seven dwarves (which half of America knows because of the Disney movie), and Seven Aphorisms being brought to attention by a lawsuit filed by adherents of Summum. Summum is a thirty-three year old religious sect subscribing to a form of Gnostic Christianity with elements of new age philosophy and ancient Egyptian religious beliefs like mummification; the Summum website claims that the sect is the only organization in the world to currently offer mummification services, which has garnered the group much public attention, mostly in the form of gaping mouths. Currently the sect is in the process of mummifying its founder, Summum “Corky” Ra, who was raised in Utah, attending BYU and University of Utah.

Now the Supreme Court is hearing a First Amendment trial between the Summum and Salt Lake City, after the city refused to display the Seven Aphorisms, alongside the Ten Commandmants in a public park.

The Washington Post reports:

The Aphorisms are the guiding principles of Summum, a religious organization that operates from a pyramid in Salt Lake City and practices mummification. They are so important to Summum that the group's founder, Summum "Corky" Ra, asked that they be displayed in a public park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, near a Ten Commandments monument.

The city said no, triggering a court fight that today wound up before the Supreme Court. The justices debated whether the city violated Summum's First Amendment rights and must also erect the Aphorisms, which contain sayings such as "Summum is MIND," "Everything flows out and in," and "The measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left."

… In 2003, Ra wrote to the mayor of Pleasant Grove and asked that the Aphorisms be displayed in the city's Pioneer Park, which contains artifacts including a replica log cabin, a Sept. 11 memorial and the granite Ten Commandments monument. It was donated to the city in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, a civic group that distributed similar monuments nationwide after Charlton Heston starred in "The 10 Commandments" movie in 1956.

Pleasant Grove refused, saying it only accepted monuments directly related to the city's history or ones donated by groups "with longstanding ties to the Pleasant Grove community," according to court documents. Summum sued in federal court in Utah, saying its First Amendment rights had been violated, and a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver agreed.

Thus far, Justice Souter (surprise, surprise) has been the most vocally sympathetic to the Summum claim, wondering aloud how the park’s decision could not be considered a First Amendment violation. Justice Roberts (surprise, surprise) disagreed, saying, “Do we have to put any president who wants to be on Mt. Rushmore?”

The Summum claim that the Seven Aphorisms were received by Moses on Mount Sinai at the same time that he received the Ten Commandments but that he destroyed the Seven Aphorisms tablet because he knew people were not ready for them. Evidently, they still aren’t, at least at Pioneer Park.