In Wyoming, a church upped the ante in a confrontation over the Ten Commandments being displayed on public property.

The Ten Commandments controversy began in September when the city was asked to remove the monument from City Park by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. The foundation threatened legal action if the city failed to remove the monolith.

The matter was further complicated when the Westboro Baptist Church contacted the city and expressed a desire to place a monument declaring slain University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was in hell.

Last month the council decided to remove the Ten Commandments from the park and will later place it in a historical plaza where it will be surrounded by other monuments dedicated to documents vital to American legal history.

The city council expressed hope that such a move will prevent the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Westboro Baptist Church from taking legal action against the city. And, if such action is undertaken, the council believes the move will strengthen the city's legal position.

The pastor behind the demand for a monument declaring Shepard damned is a well-known Christian fundamentalist evangelist, Fred Phelps.

CASPER, Wyo. - The City Council decided Tuesday to move a controversial Ten Commandments monument out of a park and into a plaza that will honor a variety of historic documents.

Phelps has been calling for a monument declaring that Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered in October, 1998, went to hell because of his sexual orientation. Shepard's murder sparked a nationwide outcry for hate-crimes legislation.

Phelps threatened to sue if the city did not comply with his demand. Meanwhile, the city was threatened last month with a lawsuit from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, of Madison, Wis., if it did not remove the Ten Commandments monument from City Park.

The monument has been in the park since 1965, when it was donated to the city by the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

I believe Phelps has unintentionally highlighted a problem with trying to accommodate displays of religious artifacts on public property — the more the government acquiesces, the more extreme the demands may become.

Note: This entry is an excerpt from a column on the continuing Ten Commandments controvery at Silver Rights.