Decalogue Display Returns to Elkhart County

May 24, 2005

Wire Service: AP

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/11724746.htm

On May 24, 2005 the Associated Press reported, "a framed copy of the Ten Commandments is hanging again in the Elkhart County building with copies of other historical documents.

A brief ceremony to mark the occasion took place Monday before the county commissioners’ weekly meeting.

'We stood staunch in our resolution that this hang in the office building,' said Phil Stiver, president of the county commissioners.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of Chicago in March overruled a lower court decision that ordered the Ten Commandments be removed from a display of historical documents – including copies of the Mayflower Compact and the Magna Carta.

The appeals court said the display had secular appeal, did not advance or inhibit particular religious beliefs and avoided 'excessive entanglement' between government and religion.

The commandments were posted in 2003 at the county government building about 15 miles southeast of South Bend."