xcited by reports that public schools in Kentucky are posting copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, televangelist Pat Robertson yesterday called upon his viewers to rise up, and compared events in that state to the time of the American revolution. Robertson declared:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I want to say this very clearly. If the people of the United States -- all across America, in their churches and in their civic groups and in their legislatures -- decide that they're not going to allow the Supreme Court to dominate their lives in the fashion that it has been in this nation, the Supreme Court does not have the power to change that. They are not going to be able to overturn the will of a hundred million American people. And I think the time has come that we throw off the shackles of this dictatorship that's been imposed upon us.

"We had a war in 1776 that set us free from the shackles of the arbitrary rule of the British crown, and I think what's going on in Corbin, Kentucky, boy, those people like to live free. And I think the time has come that we do that..."

   Robertson's belligerent rhetoric coincided with a rally of several thousand people who showed up in Corbin, Kentucky at the Immanuel Baptist Church in support of posting the Decalogue in public buildings. A featured speaker was Alabama Judge Roy Moore, who has attracted national attention for openly displaying a hard-carved Ten Commandments plaque above his dais, and opening court with a Baptist invocation. According to the Courier-Journal newspaper, the rally attracted Commandments boosters from Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio as well as local and state residents.

   Rep. Sheldon Baugh (R-Russellville) told the enthusiastic audience that he would sponsor legislation to permit "local-option referendums" in every school district over whether the Commandments should be displayed.

   Several school districts throughout the state permit display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, despite the fact that in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a state law requiring that the Decalogue be posted. Some school districts and local governments contend that their practice will pass constitutional muster, since the plaque are paid for and hung by private citizens.

   A Pike County judge told the Courier-Journal, "I think it's time for the people who want to see the Ten Commandments in their courthouse and in their schools to start asking that they be placed in the schools, and we'll take it from there."

   Yesterday, local and county governments which had expected litigation support from the state of Kentucky received some bad news. Attorney General Ben Chandler's office announced that it would not issue a legal opinion on whether some government offices in Pike and Rowan counties may display the Decalogue. Assistant Deputy Attorney General David H. MacKnight told the Courier-Journal that the decision was made because of "contemplated litigation" by opponents of the Commandments display.

   An official with the Pike County schools branded the decision a "cop-out." Bruce Hopkins, communications director for the district, said "We were waiting for guidance from the attorney general's office, and quite obviously that's not going to come.

   Meanwhile, the tone in the battle over posting the Ten Commandments in Kentucky schools is escalating, and is sure to be fueled by Robertson's combative rhetoric. Harland County School Superintendent Don Musselman and McCreary County Judge-Executive Jimmie Greene have declared that they will not remove the Commandments from public buildings, despite warning letters and the threat of litigation from the ACLU.

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