South Carolinians -- like people across the globe and across all generations -- need the Ten Commandments.

But that does not mean that the lawmakers should embroil the state in a legal skirmish over placement of the Ten Commandments in public buildings.

Both the House and Senate are expected to entertain bills in the coming legislative session that would take the state down a path loaded with legal landmines. The legislature should let the U.S. Supreme Court speak on the issue before investing time and resources in it. The high court is expected to address the thorny matter of publicly displaying the Ten Commandments this year.

If that gives clearer guidance on whether or how the Old Testament commandments can be displayed on government property, South Carolina should follow suit. South Carolina should avoid at all costs the beligerence shown in Alabama, where the state Supreme Court chief justice thumbed his nose at the courts and had to be removed along with his Ten Commandments display.

The value of the Ten Commandments is not in question, but the government's role in placing them before the public is a matter of legitimate contention. It certainly should not be a matter of political grandstanding, and South Carolinians would be best served if the legislature lets the legal dust settle.

Proponents argue that displaying the commandments does not endorse or promote a religion, but reflects the historical traditions and moral codes that are the foundation of the state and nation. But at the same time, bill sponsor Sen. Mike Fair says, "It gets lost on some people that this country when it was founded was a Christian country." If the commandments are a Christian display, it follows that the government would be obliged to display tenets of other religions that many would see as an offensive use of public property.

It's not an easy issue, and it should not bog down state lawmaking. A more reasonable response would be for all legislators to display the Ten Commandments in their daily lives as they focus on the clear matters of state. With any luck, the citizenry would follow suit.