The Ten Commandments will remain outside four Adams County high schools ... for now.

        After hearing two hours of legal arguments, U.S. Magistrate Timothy S. Hogan said Friday that he needs more time before deciding whether to grant an injunction requested by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued the school district.

        The Adams County Ministerial Association (ACMA) raised the money for the 3-foot stone tablets and erected them outside the public school facilities in fall 1997. The group had the school board's permission.

        Since the ACLU sued the district, ministers expanded the displays to include identical stone tablets inscribed with excerpts of the Magna Carta, U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

        At Friday's hearing, debate touched on other cases involving the posting of the Ten Commandments and public property. Francis J. Manion, representing the school district, stressed that the commandments do not stand alone and are not equivalent to the schools asking for “an "Our Father' or a "Hail Mary.'”

        He also noted that the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in March that Ohio's motto — “With God All Things Are Possible'' — is constitutional.

        “The motto case is relevant,” he said. “You can't simply ignore it or put it aside.”

        ACLU attorney William R. Jacobs noted that it seemed the other historical documents were added only because the school district had been sued.

        “The Ten Commandments is essentially a religious document,” he said. “The courts have held schools are special because they are civic institutions, not religious institutions.”

        Stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments outside the high schools are more pervasive than the issue of school prayer because students have no choice but to pass by them, he said.

        But, “the typical teen-ager blows by it,” Magistrate Hogan said. Mr. Jacobs disagreed.

        “It's always there, 24/7. It's a daily reminder. It's not something that goes away,” he said. “Prayer goes in one ear and out the other. The permanence and solidity of the monuments makes our case stronger.”

        A group of lawyers and ministers rallied outside the federal courthouse before the hearing. The Rev. Ken Johnson, who was the ACMA's president when the monuments were erected, said, “We put them there because the community wanted them.”

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