LONDON, Kentucky, March 31 (Reuters) -Displaying the Ten Commandments in schools and public buildings -- a highly emotional issue in Kentucky's southeastern Bible Belt -- will be allowed for another 30 days while opposing sides strive for a compromise, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Juanita Coffman decided on Friday not to hold local officials in contempt for allegedly defying her order last year to remove the religious display from the walls of schools and county courthouses in three southeastern Kentucky counties.
Instead, she gave opposing sides 30 days to try to work out a mutually agreeable solution that would obviate the need for further court action.
Flag-waving supporters of the displays, who packed her courtroom on Friday, had maintained that they had met any constitutional restrictions by including the Ten Commandments in a general display along with the Declaration of Independence and the Magna Carta.
The American Civil Liberties Union countered that the displays still violated the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, even if the Ten Commandments was not mounted apart from other documents.
08:39 03-31-01
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