It was a nice gesture by a group of Christians to offer to decorate the new state judiciary building with framed copies of historic documents, including the Ten Commandments.

But not all well-meaning gestures are appropriate.

A group of Christian women met with Iowa Supreme Court officials this spring and chose the Commandments and nine other documents, including the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence, for display in the building.

State Court Administrator David Boyd said officials declined the gift because “it could be viewed as an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the state and would therefore likely embroil the Iowa judicial branch in controversy and possibly a lawsuit.”

This was months before Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended for refusing to remove his Ten Commandments monument, per a federal court order, from Alabama’s state judicial building.

But Des Moines looked like Montgomery last week, when the group, backed by another Christian organization, the Iowa Family Policy Center, held a rally on the front steps of Iowa’s judicial building, urging the judicial branch to reconsider.

The rally was held to “respectfully request that the Iowa Supreme Court reconsider its decision to refuse to hang the Ten Commandments in the judicial building,” said Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Center and rally organizer.

The group claims the Ten Commandments are important to “our nation’s legal and moral foundation,” and that the display of the Commandments in a judicial building does not imply an endorsement of religion by the government.

“Anything I can do to save our country, I’m going to be out there,” Carol Moran, rally attendee, said. “People should get involved.”

They have a point — the Constitution does not forbid the display of religious documents in federal settings. But placing a framed copy of Christian moral guidelines in a judicial building designed for public use doesn’t adequately represent the plurality of religion in the United States.

The decision by the Iowa judicial branch to refuse the Ten Commandments was the right thing to do. By firmly saying no to a bad choice in the first place, a legal battle down the road has been avoided.

Editorial Board:Nicole Paseka, Megan Hinds, Amy Schierbrock, Alicia Ebaugh, Dan Nguyen