Austin, Texas ? As he strolls from the Texas Supreme Court to the state Capitol, Thomas Van Orden recounts the ominous e-mails that warn “we’re gonna get you” and tell him to “get the hell out” if he can’t support the American way of life.

Van Orden shrugs off the angry responses to his lawsuit seeking to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Capitol grounds. A Vietnam veteran and former lawyer who is now homeless, Van Orden says he already “went to hell” and is still finding his way back.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether that 6-foot granite monument — bearing the words “I am the Lord thy God” — and two similar displays at Kentucky courthouses constitute unconstitutional government establishment of religion.

Many conservatives warn that if the states lose, the ruling would force the removal of similar objects from memorials and public spaces across America. Dozens of demonstrators are expected outside the courthouse in Washington while the case is argued inside.

Derided by some as an atheist, Van Orden says he’s simply “not religious” despite growing up in the Methodist Church and having a brief interest in the Unitarian Church as an adult.

“I have nothing against the Ten Commandments. I grew up with the Ten Commandments,” he said. “I didn’t sue Christianity or Judaism. I sued the government. It was filed to uphold the principles of the First Amendment.”

Supporters of keeping the monument on the Capitol grounds say the traditions of Western law are rooted in the Ten Commandments. America can’t scrub the role of religion from its history, said Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Legal Institute, which defends religious freedoms and filed briefs in support of the monument.

“What they’re really advocating on the other side is a religious cleansing from our history,” Shackelford said. “It should be treated with respect as our part of history, not some new form of pornography that has to be banned from our public arena.”

The Fraternal Order of Eagles donated the Texas monument in 1961 and gave scores of similar monuments to towns across the United States.

State Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott, a Catholic, will defend the Texas monument.

“I hope and believe the United States Supreme Court is not going to force agnosticism upon the people of this state and this country,” Abbott said. Abbott noted the U.S. Supreme Court’s marble courtroom also has a carving of Moses holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

Van Orden rejects that comparison, noting the carving also shows other historical lawgivers, including Hammurabi, Confucius and Muhammed.

Van Orden said he wouldn’t have sued if the Texas Capitol grounds paid similar homage to historical figures.

The case has brought Van Orden a modicum of fame as the “homeless lawyer,” a pauper who maneuvered through a complex legal system all the way to the highest court in the land.