"Ten Suggestions?" How about Seven Aphorisms?

WASHINGTON -- A Supreme Court case this week spotlighted an unusual religion that draws on sacramental nectar, pyramids and mummies, and raised broader questions about the place of New Age beliefs in modern society.

(The proposed Summum Seven Aphorisms monument which would be placed next to a similar statue of the Ten Commandments in Pleasant Grove, Utah.)

A couple of decades after a visit from "beings Extraterrestrial" inspired him to found the Church of Summum in 1975, Summum Bonum Amen Ra, born Claude Nowell and known as Corky, had another epochal encounter. He saw a monolith depicting the Ten Commandments on the courthouse grounds in Salt Lake City, says Su Menu, the Summum religion's current leader, and "felt it would be nice to have the Seven Aphorisms next to them." The monument would be inscribed with the principles that, according to Summum doctrine, Moses initially intended to deliver to the Hebrews before deciding they weren't ready to understand them.

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