American Atheists State Director Carletta Sims holds the line for state-church separation. But a local court dismissed harassment charges against a local militia preacher who had targetted Sims.

Hawkins County, Tennessee judge has dismissed a complaint against a "kitchen militia" preacher who had allegedly harassed American Atheists State Director Carletta Sims. Sims reported that the ordained minister arrived at her private residence on November 23 of last year in the company of another woman. Sims told authorities that the minister, June Griffin stated that she (Sims) was the "enemy" and that "the Bible tells her to know her enemy. Also introduced into evidence were tape recordings of phone messages which Griffin, a pastor in the American Bible Protestant Church, had left at Sims' residence which reportedly contained threats and referred to the Atheist activist as a "target."

   Griffin has identified herself as a member of the "Kitchen Militia" in Hawkins County.

   None of this has dampened the continuing battle which Sims is spearheading, though, namely to remove existing plaques of the Ten Commandments from government buildings and other public property, and to stop the efforts of County Commissioners and other elected bodies from erecting their own Decalogue displays. In September, 1998, Ms. Sims -- Tennessee State Director for American Atheists -- called for the removal of a Ten Commandments plaque which had been erected in the Washington County Courthouse. The display had been placed there in the 1920s in honor of a local Presbyterian minister; it was retained after the courthouse building underwent renovation eleven years ago. County officials decided to retain the plaque, ostensibly due to its "historical significance."

   But Sims threatened legal action and charged that the Decalogue was, in fact, an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, and specifically Judeo- Christianity.

    Since her original complaint about the Ten Commandments plaque in Washington County, there have been several developments:

   ¶    The American Civil Liberties Union has reportedly backed awayfrom supporting Sims' lawsuit against county officials, fearing that the Ten Commandments plaque would be upheld by courts as a historical artifact, rather than a violation of state-church separation. Ms. Sims told AANEWS that she is mulling whether to hire a private attorney and continue her challenge. "It's significant that when they remodeled the courthouse nearly a decade ago, they took down the plaque and then decided to put it up again," she noted. "I'd argue that they did that for religious reasons, not because of history."

   ¶    In Blount County, Commissioners have tabled a controversial motion to support other county governments which display, or intend to display, Ten Commandments plaques and other religious graffiti on public property. The resolution declared:

"WE, the below-signed sitting Commission of Blount County, in consideration of our great Biblical history of Tennessee, both in our Tennessee Constitution and devotional activities in our heritage, hereby acknowledge the importance of the Ten Commandments of Almighty God and wish to go on record in support of this significant Document and state that we will defend our right to its display to the limit of our ability, against all enemies, domestic and foreign, public and private.

"IN the enacting of this Resolution, we hereby petition the God of Heaven to preserve the peace which He has so graciously extended to us by our ancient acknowledgment of the Ten Commandments and beg His continued protection and attention to ills which come to those who forget Him and His Law..."

   "Both the federal and state establishment clauses require that the state and local governments pursue a course of neutrality toward religion...," he added.

   Newton also cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision in STONE V. GRAHAM (1980) which examined the constitutionality of a Kentucky statute mandating the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. "The Supreme Court summarily struck down the challenged statute as being one which had a preeminent purpose which was plainly religious in nature and thus violative of the establishment clause."

   The Board of Commissioners has tabled both resolutions for the time being.

   ¶    Violations of the First Amendment are like brush fires, especially in states like Tennessee. Put one out, another begins. In this case, while officials in Blount County were cautious backing off their heady resolutions in support of the Decalogue, Kingsport (Tenn.) Police Chief Jim Keeling announced a "kindness revolution" in his department for 1999 "where we try to better to each other, where we are brothers and sisters, where we get back to the way we were raised." Keesling cited acts like opening doors for women and helping the elderly or disabled; but it also means circulating business-card size reminders that have a distinctly religious message, like the one Chief Keeling holds up in a photo appearing in the Kingsport Times on January 20, 1999. The card reads:

"GOD still has a purpose for my life, and a place for me in his service. God only asks that I be available to serve him. He will give me the ability and opportunity to do it."

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