The fight to keep a Bible on display outside a county courthouse in Texas goes on.

Federal Judge Sim Lake has ruled again that Harris County must remove the Bible from a monument outside the civil courts building in Houston. The county had requested to let the display remain until appeals are exhausted. Lake says the placement of the Bible violates the so-called separation of church and state.

The county has submitted a new request to an appeals court to delay the effect of Lake's ruling.

Real estate broker and attorney Kay Staley sued the county last year, arguing that the Bible display improperly advances Christianity. But the county says the display originated as a private expression of free speech, with private donations used to buy the Bible.