The American Civil Liberties Union and 14 local citizens filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on Tuesday in response to posting of the 10 Commandments by the Hamilton County Commission.
Hedy Weinberg, of the ACLU, said posting of the 10 Commandments in a public building violates the separation of church and state.
The County Commission several months ago had voted to post the commandments on the recommendation of Chairman Bill Hullander. Only Commissioner Richard Casavant voted against it.
The 10 Commandments were later posted at the County Courthouse, the City-County Courts Building and at Juvenile Court.
Commissioners Hullander, Curtis Adams, Harold Coker and Charlotte Vandergriff were among those attending a 10 Commandments rally at McKenzie Arena in early December. The featured speaker was Judge Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who is embroiled in lawsuits over his posting of the commandments.
Commissioners and Charles Wysong, who heads 10 Commandments Tennessee, said the commandments were displayed using donated funds and the legal defense will also be raised privately.
The individual County Commission members were named as defendants.
Plaintiffs in addition to the ACLU are UTC professor Thomas Bibler and his wife, Nancy; Rabbi Josef Davidson of B'nai Zion Congregation; the Rev. Roland Johnson Jr. Of Phillips Temple Church; the Rev. John W. Mingus Sr. of Pilgrim Congregational Church; Rabbi Philip Posner of Mizpah Congregation; Melanie Morel Sullivan of the Unitarian Universalist Church; Robert and Priscilla Siskin; publisher Tracy Knauss and his wife, Donna; C. Brad Guagnini and William David Jones.