Thou Shalt Not Meddle In Religious Matters, Court Tells Elkhart.

Display of a Ten Commandments monument in front of a government building in Elkhart, Ind., violates the separation of church and state, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

Local officials argued that the Commandments monolith in front of the city's municipal building is permissible because it is among several historical monuments featured in and around the building. In December of 1999, U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp agreed and dismissed a legal challenge. The appellate court's ruling in the Books v. Elkhart case overturns that decision.

The appeals court held Dec. 13 that the granite Ten Commandments monument, which sits on the lawn in front of the city's municipal building, is clearly religious in nature and that the presence of other monuments, including a Revolutionary War memorial and a display called the Freedom Monument, do not reduce the inherent religiosity of the Commandments.

"[T]his monument impermissibly suggests that, in this community, there are `ins' and `outs,'" the court declared in its 2-1 ruling. The court added that constitutional principles "simply prevent government at any level from intruding into the religious life of our people by sponsoring or endorsing a particular perspective on religious matters."

The 7th Circuit's ruling is the latest in a long line of defeats for government endorsement of the religious document. During the past two years, several Religious Right groups have aggressively promoted government display of the Ten Commandments in city halls, public schools and other public buildings. Bills promoting such displays were considered in 11 state legislatures in 2000.

The crusade conflicts with the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham (1980) that a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools was unconstitutional. More recently, state and federal courts have struck down government-sponsored display of the Commandments in South Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and, just last month, in a separate Indiana case.

Americans United, which filed a brief with the appellate court and monitors these controversies nationally, applauded the 7th Circuit's Indiana decision. "The Ten Commandments have done pretty well for themselves for centuries," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "They don't need any help from politicians in Elkhart, Ind., or anywhere else. I hope this decision will bring a screeching halt to the misguided crusade to display sacred religious texts at government buildings."

In other news about government-sponsored Ten Commandments displays:

* Allegheny County, Pa., officials have rebuffed a request from Americans United to remove a Ten Commandments plaque from the courthouse. In a letter to AU attorneys, Allegheny County Solicitor Terrence McVerry stated that the county does not believe the display violates the separation of church and state.

On Jan. 17, members of the county council voted 11-2 in favor of a resolution backing continued display of the commandments. Americans United is exploring the possibility of legal action.

* Three rural Kentucky counties have re-posted the Ten Commandments alongside other historic documents in courthouses and public schools, after local officials asserted that the new displays are constitutional.

The developments are the latest in a long legal battle between the counties and the American Civil Liberties Union. In response to an ACLU lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman ruled in May of 2000 that the three counties may not sponsor Ten Commandments displays.

Officials in McCreary and Pulaski counties subsequently re-posted the commandments in their courthouses as part of larger displays containing other documents, among them the Bill of Rights and the Mayflower Compact. A few days later, officials in Harlan County voted to post similar displays in schools there.

The ACLU has asked Coffman to find the counties in contempt of court.

* Washington County, Ind., officials have agreed to settle a Ten Commandments lawsuit by creating an educational display that erects the biblical code alongside historic writings by the ancient lawgiver Hammurabi, third U.S. president Thomas Jefferson, former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and others.

As part of the settlement, the county, which was defended by TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice, also agreed to pay the legal fees incurred by plaintiff Jeffrey Adkins and his lawyers at the Indiana Civil Liberties Union.

* Alabama Judge Roy Moore, a controversial jurist who became the target of a lawsuit for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, is cleaning house at the state Supreme Court. Moore, who was elected chief justice last November, has fired all five attorneys in the court's administrative office and the court's spokesman.

Moore says "major changes" are coming to the court and has hinted that there may be more firings.