ndiana State Rep. Brent Steele (R-Bedford) is pushing ahead with plans to erect a nine-and-a-half-ton monument of the Ten Commandments on the South lawn of the statehouse in Indianapolis, even before receiving permission from Gov. Frank O'Bannon. The Indiana Limestone Institute has already cut the rock, and Steele says that he will position the 22-1/2 - square foot display when it is completed.

   "I was just going to spring it on them under the theory (that) if it weights 9-1/2 tons and if I set it out there, what are they going to do?" Steele told Associated Press. He added that he has a letter from the previous governor, Evan Bayh, who allegedly promised to replace an earlier Ten Commandments monument that had been damaged in a protest and removed.

   Noting that the Gov. O'Bannon was then serving as lieutenant government when Bayh allegedly made his statement, Steele added: "They said they wanted it. I'm going to hold him to it."

   Steele's move comes in the midst of a national debate over the display of religious symbols including the Ten Commandments in school rooms and other government venues. Earlier this month, the Indiana House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation that calls for the Decalogue to be posted even as a "stand alone" document. A federal judge ruled in December, 1999 that a Ten Commandments monument in front of the Elkhart, Indiana City Hall did not violate the separation of church and state, since it was presumably part of a larger display having to do with legal themes.

   One of the plaintiffs in that suit, Indiana American Atheists State Director Mike Suetkamp, is appealing the ruling.

    Last Wednesday, a bill calling for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools and other government buildings cleared the Indiana State Senate 44 - 10. While supporters of the Commandments have often suggested that the Decalogue is "not religious" or serves a secular purpose by instilling commonly shared values in youngsters, at least one legislator was unapologetic about the religious intentions behind the measure. Sen. Allie V. Craycraft, Jr. (D-Selma) gushed, "Religious is reaching out to God. Christianity is a religion where God reaches out to man and he did it the way we discuss today (with the Ten Commandments.)"

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