federal judge has ruled that plaintiffs challenging a Bible week proclamation issued by the town of Gilbert, Arizona lacked proper standing in the case, and dismissed a challenge to the constitutionally suspect practice. Local residents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, had sued Gov. Jane Hull and Gilbert Mayor Cynthia Dunham over a 1997 National Bible Week Proclamation which declared that "the Bible is the foundational document of the Judeo-Christian principles upon which our nation was conceived," and exhorted all citizens to study the book.

   The plaintiffs argued that such a decree violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

   Last week, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver dismissed the case saying that the residents, Ellis and Ellen Sklar, did not show sufficient evidence that they had been harmed by the Mayor's actions. "It is undisputed that the mental anguish and profound offense that the (plaintiffs) experienced as a result of the 1997 Bible Week Proclamation and the proposed 1998 Proclamation is genuine," she noted. "Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has concluded that no matter how significant, the psychological suffering resulting from knowledge of purportedly unconstitutional conduct does not constitute judicially cognizable injury for purpose of standing."

   Silver noted that "lack of standing will not preclude a finding of standing in future actions challenging the Bible Week Proclamation by the Mayor and Town of Gilbert."

   In a canned statement from her office, Mayor Dunham declared that she was "ecstatic" over the ruling, and would follow through with plans for a 1999 National Bible Week Proclamation. The event is to be begin on November 23 according to the National Bible Association, a New York group which urges government officials to issue decrees and mobilize their communities to read the bible.

   But Gilbert Councilman Mike Evans told the Arizona Republic Newspaper that he wishes the Mayor "would have come to her senses" and get the community out of the national flap over prayer and other religious activism in government. "She must like involving the town in controversy," Evans said. "There's no other conservative Republican LDS mayor in the East Valley who sees the importance of it like she does."

   Indeed, despite even the powerful local influence of the Mormon church and the conservative politics of the region, Bible Week proclamations have been relatively rare. Mayors in Scottsdale and Tempe issued Bible Week decrees in 1994 but have not since. In other nearby communities like Apache Junction, Queen Creek and Mesa, the mayors are Republican and Mormon, but none has ever proclaimed the Bible Week event.

   The Arizona case had also challenged Gov. Jane Hull, who intended to issue a Bible Week Proclamation from her office. In November, Judge Silver granted a temporary injunction against both the state and the city of Gilbert from issuing any decrees, and Hull agreed to drop plans for a bible observance. Dunham, however, continued to threaten the practice, and received legal help from Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice.

   Although the latest federal decision is based on a technicality involving standing, an ACLJ press release sounded as if the case had been decided on constitutional merits. Walter Weber, Senior Litigation Counsel for ACLJ, gushed that the group was "pleased with the action of the court."

   "From the very beginning, we believed this case never belonged in court. Now that the case has been dismissed, the Mayor is once more free to proclaim a Bible Week."

   Weber added that "The proclamation merely shows a tradition of commemorating matters of importance to the life of the community," and said that such a decree with "no different than previous proclamations commemorating Thanksgiving or National Day of Prayer."

   Thomas May, executive vice president of the National Bible Association, told the Republic newspaper that "thousands of requests" are now being mailed to cities and states throughout the nation asking government officials to declare and support the National Bible Week. "The proclamation now encourages people who are interested in Bible week to observe it. So, there's no coercion." May added that the Association "is not a religious group."

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