DENVER (June 9, 2009)--A federal appeals court has ruled that a Ten Commandments monument outside Oklahoma's Haskell County Courthouse "has the primary effect of endorsing religion."

A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to federal Judge Ronald White so he could issue a new ruling consistent with theirs.

White previously rejected arguments that the monument promotes Christianity at the expense of other religions.

The latest ruling prompted Haskell County Commissioner Mitch Worsham to say, "Whoever was the judge in this, I feel sorry for him on Judgment Day."

Haskell County's attorneys can now ask all the judges on the appellate court to review the panel's decision, or appeal the case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We're not going to take it down,” Worsham said.