Public officials and religious leaders in Tennessee are becoming more belligerent in their determination to violate state-church separation. American Atheists State Director Carletta Sims continues her effort to stop posting of the Ten Commandments in government buildings, and stop a discriminatory released time program in local schools.

hat began in one Tennessee town as a protest against the local public school released time program has now expanded into a heated debate over displays of the Ten Commandments and other related issues. At the center of the controversy is Carletta Sims, Tennessee State Director of American Atheists. In letters to the editor, and rallies attracting hundreds of the faithful, Sims is being denounced for her atheism; but she's also now picking up local and statewide support in her effort to uphold the constitution and the separation of church and state. County governments are challenging Sims, and one government body has announced plans to display copies of the Decalogue in every public building. Adding to the flap, the powerful Rutherford Institute, a "religious rights" groups that has taken up the defense of Paula Jones, is even hovering over the issue, advising a friendly state senator on how to proceed to Sims' challenge.

    It all began in the summer of 1997 when the Sullivan County Board of Education voted to institute a released-time program at one of the public middle schools. Students participating in the program were bused to some of the local 15 churches which participated in the operation for religious instructions.

   Noting that the U.S. Supreme Court had unfortunately already upheld the constitutionality of release time, Sims' decided to take a novel approach. She put together a systematic, well-organized program on Atheism for any students who wanted to take advantage of the release time in a non-religious way. She then took her case to the Sullivan County Board of Education, which in a 5-2 decision had approved the original released time program on a pilot basis. Suddenly, the prospect of an Atheist -- or any non-Christian - taking advantage of "religious freedom" put the issue in an entirely different light.

   She was joined by Lewis Loflin, a deist. Both pointed out the need for fairness in giving students an opportunity to choose, and that the released time program could not be exclusively for Christians. "America is a melting pot," Sims told the Board during a public meeting. "We all know of numerous religions. There are diversities and cultures all over the United States, but to pick and choose one over the other is wrong... Religious speech should not have priority or precedence over any other speech."

    Rather than permit an Atheist release time unit -- or open the program up fairly to any and all groups which might wish to take advantage of it -- the Sullivan County Board of Education voted in August to end the program, coincidentally in a 5-2 mirror of its original vote. Local religious groups were outraged, but Ms. Sims then moved on to another target -- a plaque of the Ten Commandments at a courthouse in neighboring Washington County. The Decalogue plaque was erected in the 1920s to honor the memory of a local Presbyterian minister. Predictably, when Sims asked Washington County officials to remove the unconstitutional religious display, they balked and some even defended the Decalogue as "historical" rather than religious.

   Since then, the battle over state-church separation in Tennessee has heated up. Everyone from the Governor to state senators, and even the Rutherford Institute is ready to jump into the fray. Sims, a strikingly friendly and courteous housewife, may just as well have stood up in the state legislature and yelled, "Let's get ready to rumble!"

   ¶    Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist has told reporters that he supports efforts by Washington County officials to keep the Ten Commandments display at the courthouse. The governor labeled Ms. Sims' concerns over the First Amendment "ridiculous," adding "I think if you'll trace back the deterioration of family values in this state and the nation you find it started in the 1960s when we stopped teaching the right things (in public school)."

   ¶    Sullivan County Commissioners had voted to support their counterparts in Washington County, and passed a resolution applauding the Ten Commandments display. SC Commissioner Mike Gonce, who introduced the measure, said that the body's vote should be "a clear signal that Sullivan County doesn't lay down for atheists."

    "It shows we're willing to take on the issues and take the hard stands," added Gonce. He also attempted to link the display of the Commandments to a wider culture-wars agenda, adding that the board's resolution "may be an encouragement for them (public officials) to go on and adopt some regulations on strip bars, come and join us in that fight, and let us stand together... It goes into the moral fabric of our communities..."

    The local Kingsport-Times News took a different stand, though, in an editorial titled "Plaque support is misdirected."

    Now, Ms. Sims reports that County Commissioners intend to be more outspoken in defense of the Commandments. Her latest information is that Commissioners want copies of the Decalogue displayed in ALL Sullivan County public buildings. In order to try and pass constitutional muster, the Commandments plaque will be joined by copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

    Why include other documents in the display? It's known as the "plastic reindeer" strategy, a phrase used to describe legal cases where public officials attempt to "secularize" religious displays (especially at Christmas) by the addition of plastic Santa Clause images or other secular holiday iconography. In Charlotte, N.C., an attempt to display a copy of the Ten Commandments in the local Government Center was rejected, even after supporters wanted to "secularize" the venue by adding on a copy of the State Constitution and other documents. Courts are usually wary of the "plastic reindeer" strategy, and note that the intent is simply to find a way around the First Amendment.

   ¶    Religious groups and even local government officials are being more outspoken, even belligerent, in their attitude toward atheism, separationism and Ms. Sims. Sullivan County Commissioner Mark Vance, displaying his ignorance of rulings having to do with religious exercise in public school classrooms, lamented "You go to the PTA meeting at the school and they can pray there, but they won't allow you to have prayer inside the school for your children."

   Vance, when asked about a possible court challenge to the Commandments by Ms. Sims, added "I'll tell her in a hurry where she's going and where she can go."

    Local officials aren't the only factor fueling the debate, though, over the First Amendment in Tennessee. In Jonesboro, Washington County, hundreds of folks have been attended prayer rallies on the steps of the courthouse organized by local Baptist preacher, Rev. James Taylor. Taylor told the crowd at one rally that "The Muslims, Hindus and atheists did not found this nation, this nation was founded by God's people." Taylor also denounced court decisions from the 1960s which remove prayer and religious display from public school classrooms, then reminded his audience that "There will be no atheists in hell because a second after they die they will be believers..."

    Joining Taylor in inflaming the crowd was Rev. Rick Rose. Taylor had attacked the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, so Rose used his time to take on the Freedom of the Press guarantee, and criticized the local newspaper for even running stories about Ms. Sims' and her case. "We're going to deal with the reason that a lady like Carletta Sims should be allowed to publish articles... " Rose also called local reporters "a bunch of heathens... a bunch of reprobates (who) don't know god," and accused the paper of not covering the rally. In fact, the religious gathering was front-page copy in the Sunday, September 13 issue of the Times-News, complete with photos of Rose clutching a bible while preaching to the crowd, and several Ten Commandments supporters with heads bowed.

   ¶    The Rutherford Institute, a "religious rights" organization founded by attorney John Whitehead, has entered the Tennessee fray, according to a letter obtained by AANEWS sent to Tenn. State Senator Ben Atchley. At issue is an analysis of the Tennessee Senate Joint Resolution 328, dated Feb. 21, 1995, to "encourage the observance of the Ten Commandments." The Attorney General's office found that the resolution "violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," as well as the Tennessee Constitution. That finding could bear not only on any complaints American Atheists is making in Sullivan and Washington Counties, but in subsequent resolutions or declarations by state and county officials in connection with the Decalogue display.

    What about the ploy of Sullivan County officials to "secularize" the Ten Commandments display by including token secular documents such as the Bill of Rights or the Constitution? Supporters of Decalogue display often point to the fact that a portrayal of the Mosaic Law is found in a bas relief in the U.S. Supreme Court building, where it is included with depiction of other legal symbols and figures. But is that what Sullivan County officials are doing?

   Not really. In STONE v. GRAHAM (1980) , the high court ruled that posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms was unconstitutional, since it provided state encouragement on behalf of religion. The court also examined the motivation for the action, noting that having the Ten Commandments in a public school classroom was "pre-eminently religious" in its intent. Thus, mixing a religious display or symbol, whether a nativity scene or the Commandments with plastic reindeer, secular documents or anything else non-religious in nature, in hopes of circumventing the constitutional requirements of the Establishment Clause, was clearly not permissible. Considering the statements expressed by officials in Sullivan and Washington Counties, along with the more belligerent admonitions of Revs. Rose and Taylor, it is obvious that the culture war battle now being played out in Tennessee has everything to do with religious belief, symbols and the government endorsement of Christianity.

Sullivan County School Board officials will be taking up the release time question again, possibly in the November meeting. Some parents, local officials and religious groups have been demanding that the Board once again instate the program, and begin busing students to area churches, during the official class day, for religious indoctrination. Carletta Sims says that American Atheists will be back to challenge the program again, if necessary.

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