The political battle for control of Congress has attracted so much attention that it’s easy to overlook some of the interesting ballot questions that voters will face on Nov. 6.

One of them is in Alabama, where voters will decide if they want to amend the state constitution to explicitly state that displays of the Ten Commandments are permitted in public schools and government buildings as long as it’s done in a way that “complies with constitutional requirements.”

A little background provides some context: Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued decisions dealing with the display of the Ten Commandments (and other religious symbols) in public schools and government offices. In public schools, permanent display of the Decalogue is not permitted for devotional purposes, although they may be incorporated temporarily into a legitimate program of education – say, a class on comparative religion or ancient history.

Whether they can be displayed at the seat of government depends on a number of factors. How old is the display? Is it accompanied by other types of symbols? Is it part of a display designed to educate about the evolution of the law over many centuries? Who put it there, and who paid for it?

Basically, the Alabama ballot proposal would alter the state constitution to say it’s permissible to display the Ten Commandments in those cases where courts have already said it’s OK. If you look a little deeper, you'll see its real purpose: to promote government display of a religious document.

We’ll soon know if the people of Alabama think this is worth doing. I would point out that the state’s past experiences with Ten Commandments displays haven’t always gone so well. Roy Moore, the failed U.S. Senate candidate and alleged assaulter of teenage girls, first came to Americans United’s attention over a wooden Ten Commandments display he erected in his courtroom when he was a state judge in Etowah County in the 1990s. (Legend has it Moore carved the tablets himself.)

In 2000, Moore used the notoriety he gained from that legal dust-up to catapult himself into the chief justice’s seat on the Alabama Supreme Court. Once there, he decided to live large and bring a two-ton Ten Commandments display into the state judicial building. Americans United and its allies sued him and won. Moore’s defiance of a federal court order to remove the display led to his removal from the court.

(You might recall that Moore got his old job back in 2012 and managed to lose his seat again, this time after he refused to recognize the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling upholding marriage equality.)

The Ten Commandments can be erected by every house of worship in Alabama, but that’s never enough for some folks. They seemed to be obsessed with putting them up in public buildings as well. In Alabama, a lot of time, money and energy has been spent defending these displays.

I leave it to you to determine how well that has served the state.

Photo: A Ten Commandments display at a public park in Colorado.