Ten Commandments

WASHINGTON - Can a public high school hold its graduation ceremony in a local church? The Supreme Court has been pondering that question in its private conference for six weeks, discussing whether to take up a Wisconsin case that could reset the line separating church and state. Last year, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that the Elmbrook School District, near Milwaukee, violated the 1st Amendment and its ban on "an establishment of religion" by holding a high school graduation ceremony in the sanctuary of an evangelical Christian church.

WASHINGTON - Can a public high school hold its graduation ceremony in a local church? The Supreme Court has been pondering that question in its private conference for six weeks, discussing whether to take up a Wisconsin case that could reset the line separating church and state. Last year, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that the Elmbrook School District, near Milwaukee, violated the 1st Amendment and its ban on "an establishment of religion" by holding a high school graduation ceremony in the sanctuary of an evangelical Christian church.

Strong winds scour the dunes, which hide a curious history. Nails and fragments of concrete are scattered everywhere. Steel cables, carved pieces of wood and slabs of painted plaster poke out of the ground, ghosts rising from the grave. In 1923, Cecil B. DeMille came to the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes on California's Central Coast and built a movie set that still captures the imagination -- a colossal Egyptian dreamscape for the silent movie version of "The Ten Commandments." Under the direction of French artist Paul Iribe, a founder of the Art Deco movement, 1,600 craftsmen built a temple 800 feet wide and 120 feet tall flanked by four 40-ton statues of the Pharaoh Ramses II. Twenty-one giant plaster sphinxes lined a path to the temple's gates.

Alabama's “Ten Commandments judge” has climbed back to the mountain top. Handily beating two fellow Republican challengers,   Roy Moore was elected to a six-year term as the state Supreme Court's chief justice, a position from which he was ousted in 2003 for refusing to remove a 5,200-pound granite monument to the commandments from the rotunda of the state Supreme Court's building. Moore earned more than 50% of the vote during Tuesday's election. “I have no doubt this is vindication for what I stood for,” Moore told supporters during a televised election speech.

A federal judge in London, Ky., ordered the Ten Commandments to be removed from courthouses and classrooms in several Kentucky counties. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman ruled that even though the commandments are surrounded by other historical documents, they are still religious in nature and serve no secular purpose. The rulings result from suits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of residents of Pulaski, McCreary and Harlan counties.

SERIES Fix This Yard: This new series helps homeowners create a safe and enjoyable outdoor space (10 and 10:30 a.m. A&E). Law & Order: A runaway teenager is a suspect in the murder of an entire family in this repeat episode (9 p.m. NBC) The Wanda Sykes Show: Wanda welcomes fellow TV hosts Craig Ferguson, Drew Carey and Wendy Williams in this new edition of the late-night comedy show (11 p.m. Fox). MOVIES Point Blank: Lee Marvin is out to get the crooks who double-crossed him in director John Boorman's gritty 1967 revenge tale; Angie Dickinson and Keenan Wynn also star.

Roy Moore, ousted from the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state Judicial Building rotunda in Montgomery, announced he will fight to get his job back. Moore, former chief justice, issued a statement saying he will file an appeal of his removal from office with the Alabama Supreme Court by Wednesday. He was removed from office Nov. 13.

A ministry that set out to "renew America one child at a time" by paying young people $10 each to memorize and recite the Ten Commandments has run out of money. "We are victims of success," said 76-year-old George Kelley, a retired Nashville flower shop owner who has put his Ten Commandments Project on hold "until the Lord provides additional money." About 15,000 "memorization affidavits" from children flooded the Kelleys' mailbox after Associated Press reported on the project in December.

Seven retired judges were selected randomly in a lottery to hear Roy Moore's appeal of his ouster as Alabama chief justice in his Ten Commandments monument case. The drawing came just hours after all eight Supreme Court justices disqualified themselves because of their earlier involvement in the case. Moore was ousted by the Court of the Judiciary on Nov. 13 for refusing to obey a federal judge's order to remove his monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building.

A federal appeals court in Frankfort rejected a plan to display the Ten Commandments near the state Capitol, calling it a thinly disguised effort at government endorsement of religion. The opinion noted that the state could display the biblical directives by presenting them in the context of other historical and nonreligious material. Republican state Sen.

A framed copy of the Ten Commandments that had been on display at a Virginia public high school will be replaced by a page from a history textbook depicting the commandment tablets and highlighting their role in the "roots of democracy. " The swap is being made under a proposed settlement of a lawsuit that contended displaying the text of the commandments violated the Constitutional requirement for separation of church and state. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which sued the Giles County school board, and Liberty Counsel, which represented the school board, applauded the proposed settlement.

Re "New legal battle over Ten Commandments," May 11 Instead of recycling these heavy-handed Ten Commandments, Jesus, as Moses' successor, in his own Sermon on the Mount gave eight new hallmarks of Christian holiness, urging justice, mercy, purity of heart, humility, peacemaking and uprightness. Later he commanded followers to love their enemies and do unto others what they would have done to them. Why are these never chiseled into stone displays for all to emulate? Robert Brophy Los Alamitos ALSO: Letters: Men, women and history Letters: Medical billing done wrong Letters: Jerry Brown, pragmatic in a crisis

Is displaying the Ten Commandments alongside copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Star-Spangled Banner, Magna Carta and other documents at a Virginia public high school an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion? Or is it part of an educational exhibit of historic documents? Those questions are at the heart of a long-simmering legal fight in a small Appalachian Mountains county. The Ten Commandments and a copy of the U.S. Constitution were on display at Narrows High School for more than a decade.

I'd like to announce that I'm legally changing my name to Ron Artest, on account of he's changing his name to Metta World Peace, which — small world — was actually my birth name. If this name change goes through — I go before the judge on a variety of matters next week — I hope to pick up a percentage of Artest's jersey sales, though I realize I've never seen anyone actually wear an Artest jersey, other than Artest himself. Even then, it was somewhat reluctantly. Obviously, he's found a way to remedy that.

"The Ten Commandments" Where: American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood When: 7:30 p.m. Monday Admission: $10 Information: http://www.americancinematheque.com

There will be a lot of history on display Monday night when the American Cinematheque presents Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 epic "The Ten Commandments" starring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as the power-mad pharaoh, Rameses ? and not just of the biblical kind. "Ten Commandments" has a special place in Hollywood lore: It was DeMille's last film and made Heston a superstar. The blockbuster is being shown at the Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, which is celebrating its 88th birthday that night.

Groups that filed suit to force the removal of a Ten Commandments display from a courthouse facade in West Chester have decided not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit in October 2001 on behalf of the Freethought Society. The U.S.

SERIES Fix This Yard: This new series helps homeowners create a safe and enjoyable outdoor space (10 and 10:30 a.m. A&E). Law & Order: A runaway teenager is a suspect in the murder of an entire family in this repeat episode (9 p.m. NBC) The Wanda Sykes Show: Wanda welcomes fellow TV hosts Craig Ferguson, Drew Carey and Wendy Williams in this new edition of the late-night comedy show (11 p.m. Fox). MOVIES Point Blank: Lee Marvin is out to get the crooks who double-crossed him in director John Boorman's gritty 1967 revenge tale; Angie Dickinson and Keenan Wynn also star.

Strong winds scour the dunes, which hide a curious history. Nails and fragments of concrete are scattered everywhere. Steel cables, carved pieces of wood and slabs of painted plaster poke out of the ground, ghosts rising from the grave. In 1923, Cecil B. DeMille came to the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes on California's Central Coast and built a movie set that still captures the imagination -- a colossal Egyptian dreamscape for the silent movie version of "The Ten Commandments." Under the direction of French artist Paul Iribe, a founder of the Art Deco movement, 1,600 craftsmen built a temple 800 feet wide and 120 feet tall flanked by four 40-ton statues of the Pharaoh Ramses II. Twenty-one giant plaster sphinxes lined a path to the temple's gates.