ommissioners in Greene County, Tennessee unveiled a plaque of the Ten Commandments last week which now graces the local courthouse. The move is the latest in an escalating war by religious groups to have the Decalogue or other faith-based messages displayed in government buildings. Funds for the Green County plaque were raised by a group known as United Prayer Fellowship; the chairperson of the organization told WJHL-TV news that 467 individuals or families contributions donations. The display, measuring approximately 4' x 6' feet, is prominently displayed above the main elevator in the Green County Courthouse.

   Carletta Sims, Tennessee State Director for American Atheists says that she is already beginning preparations for a legal challenge. She noted that County Attorney Roger Woolsey "stated that Green County's actions on the Ten Commandments came out of several counties not liking the opposition to the request to remove the Ten Commandments from the Jonesborough Courthouse in Washington County, TN," and that the proposal for a similar Decalogue display in Green County "brought about a flurry of religious support."

   Sims added that county officials expect their decision to approve the Ten Commandments plaque will be challenged.

   Tennessee has been the recent focus of numerous battles over the display of the Ten Commandments on public property and other potential violations of state-church separation. Last year, Sims was involved in efforts to have a Decalogue monument removed from the Washington County Courthouse; the plaque had been erected in the 1920s to honor the memory of a local Presbyterian ministers. Civic and religious groups supporting the public display of the Commandments then announced efforts to encourage other counties to erect Decalogue displays of their own. In neighboring Sullivan County, commissioners voted to support the Washington County effort to preserve the religious monument; one officials said that the board's vote was "a clear signal that Sullivan County doesn't lay down for atheists..."

   Sullivan County officials say they will install their own Ten Commandments plaque at a ceremony on July 4, 1999. The display will also include copies of the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence -- a ploy which Decalogue boosters sometimes use in hopes of "secularizing" the Commandments and rendering them less violative of state-church separation.

   Sims reports that other plaques may be erected in other parts of the state as well, including Blount and Knox Counties. As for the new display in Green County, Sims reports that supporters of the Decalogue, including the Prayer Fellowship, are attempting to justify the Commandments monument saying that it is "not connected to the government in any way," although it sits as an attachment in a government courthouse.

   Ms.Sims notes that the Decalogue "has no place on government property," and adds that attempts by religious groups or public officials to display the Ten Commandments in government buildings advances a sectarian faith-based agenda. "How would they react if a Buddhist or Muslim group wanted to put up its creed?"

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