Allegany County officials moved a Ten Commandments monument that has been the subject of First Amendment debate in recent weeks, back to the courthouse lawn early Monday.
The 1,600-pound granite marker had been on the lawn since 1957. Last week, commissioners moved it 30 yards to private property in the hopes of pre-empting a possible law suit alleging that it violated the constitutional prohibition against state-sponsored religion.
Then they ordered it moved back a day later in the face of public outcry and after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a Texas case involving a similar monument.
As in the Texas case, Cumberland's marker is one of about 200 that the Fraternal Order of Eagles donated to municipalities around the country for public display in the late 1950s and early '60s. The project gained notoriety when actor Charlton Heston, star of the 1956 movie "The Ten Commandments," participated in a dedication in California, said Robert Wahls, international secretary of the Eagles organization in Grove City, Ohio.
Courts around the country have disagreed on whether such exhibits violate the principle of separation of church and state.
Allegany commissioners said they will make a final decision regarding the monument's location after the court rules.