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“Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom… The legislation that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on Wednesday requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in ‘large, easily readable font’ in all public classrooms… Under the law, state funds will not be used to implement the mandate. The posters would be paid for through donations…
“Opponents questioned the law’s constitutionality and vowed to challenge it in court. Proponents said the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are ‘foundational documents of our state and national government.’” AP News
Here’s our coverage of the recent Supreme Court case on school prayer. The Flip Side
The left is critical of the law, arguing that it violates the separation between church and state.
“[Landry] wasn’t coy about his rationale. ‘If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original law-giver, which was Moses,’ Landry said at the signing ceremony… To risk belaboring the obvious, not all religious traditions embrace the Ten Commandments or believe Moses was, as Landry put it, ‘the original law-giver.’”
Sarah Jones, New York Magazine
“About one-third of Americans aren't Christian, a percentage that rises to almost 40% when looking at people under 30. Mandatory Christian iconography — and that's how this is meant, no matter how much they disingenuously toss the word ‘Judeo’ around — sends a clear and unmistakable message: Only Christians are ‘real’ Americans…
“This law builds on years of the Supreme Court chipping away at both religious freedom and the separation of church and state. It's an open invitation to the court to go even further, and strike down the very premise that the U.S. government should not be telling its citizens what gods to worship or what religious strictures control their lives. This isn't just Republicans taking a petty swipe at their neighbors who believe differently than they do. It's about the ongoing threat of encroaching theocracy.”
Amanda Marcotte, Salon
“Because the mandated list of commandments in HB 71 differs from the Jewish Ten Commandments, this may be viewed as the state endorsing Christianity over other religions. Furthermore, the Commandments listed in HB 71 include ‘Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images’ — text absent from the Ten Commandments listed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That may also be interpreted as the state endorsing a specifically Protestant theology in a state that is roughly one-quarter Catholic…
“How will atheist, agnostic or Hindu students interpret a state-mandated display that says, ‘I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me?’ It makes sense that some of these students will see any learning environment that posts a theological document in such a prominent position as actively seeking to convert them.”
Nicholas Mitchell, MSNBC
“This has nothing to do with children or education and everything to do with rolling back constitutional protection of and from religion… This issue was already settled by the Supreme Court 44 years ago when it struck down a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms…
“[But] This is a different Supreme Court, with a conservative supermajority stocked with justices – Samuel Alito comes to mind – convinced that Christians in America are somehow under threat. Alito made that claim in a college speech in May…
“I hope a majority of justices, many of whom claim to value the original intent of the men who wrote the Constitution, stick with the guiding principles in the establishment clause [and reject the new law].”
Chris Brennan, USA Today
The right argues that the Ten Commandments are important, but is generally skeptical of the law.
The right argues that the Ten Commandments are important, but is generally skeptical of the law.
“The idea that posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms will do anything to inculcate in students a respect for the rule of law, to say nothing of basic morality, is pure fantasy…
“If you really want students to learn about the importance of the Ten Commandments — to say nothing of Christianity, Western philosophy, or the American founding — then you’d better be ready to take on the teachers unions and dismantle the teachers colleges and credentialing programs…
“Even if the Ten Commandments are allowed to remain on the walls of Louisiana classrooms, students aren’t going to learn anything about them unless they’re taught by teachers who themselves understand the importance of the Ten Commandments.”
John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist
“The state, contrary to the silly claims of some, is not forcing teachers to put up Pride flags in classrooms. They are doing it on their own volition. Christian teachers should respond by putting up the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, or useful proverbs as posters. The Kennedy case would clearly allow the teachers to do it on their own. But, in this case and with this law, only the lawyers will win…
“Why did Louisiana’s legislature advance this legislation? They wanted to distract you from them gutting a school choice bill that would have allowed kids from public schools to go to religious schools where they’ll get actual religious education, not just a poster on the wall…
“Additionally, the Governor of Louisiana, who is championing the Ten Commandments posters, vetoed common sense tort reform that would have lowered insurance costs for Louisiana residents. He did so after a massive donation to his campaign from the trial lawyers.”
Erick-Woods Erickson, Substack
Others argue, “The law seeks to overturn a 1980 Supreme Court precedent in Stone v. Graham, in which the court ruled that a similar statute in Kentucky violated the establishment clause of the Constitution. But as Justice William Rehnquist noted in his dissent, the Ten Commandments are not merely religious doctrine but the foundation for Western law. ‘The Ten Commandments have had a significant impact on the development of secular legal codes of the Western world,’ he wrote…
“At its core, education is about the formation of character through intellectual inquiry. Information is useless without a framework through which it is applied. And to deny the role that the Ten Commandments have played in forming the moral framework of society is to be ignorant of history and civics…
“At a time when a growing number of people are rejecting the basic moral truths that stealing is wrong, marital infidelity is wrong, and sometimes even that killing is wrong, the moral guidance of the Ten Commandments is needed more than ever.”
Jeremiah Poff, Washington Examiner
