Louisiana- Inaugural State To Mandate Display of Ten Commandments In Public Schools

Louisiana has become the inaugural state to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, thanks to a Republican-endorsed bill signed by GOP Governor Jeff Landry on Wednesday.

House Bill 71, introduced by Republican Representative Dodie Horton, requires every public school classroom to showcase a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments by next January. These commandments, outlined in the Old Testament books of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, are a set of moral guidelines given by God to Moses.

“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original law given, which was Moses,” Landry stated during the signing ceremony on Wednesday.

According to the legislation, the display must be a “poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches.” The text of the Ten Commandments must be the “central focus” of the display, printed in “large, easily readable font.”

Additionally, the display must include a four-paragraph “context statement” explaining that “The Ten Commandments were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”

The statement notes that “Around the year 1688, The New England Primer became the first published American textbook and was the equivalent of a first-grade reader. The New England Primer was used in public schools throughout the United States for over one hundred fifty years to teach Americans to read and contained more than forty questions about the Ten Commandments.”

It further states, “The Ten Commandments were also included in public school textbooks published by educator William McGuffey, a noted university president and professor. A version of his famous McGuffey Readers was written in the early 1800s and became one of the most popular textbooks in the history of American education, selling more than one hundred million copies. Copies of the McGuffey Readers are still available today.”

This new law is anticipated to face legal challenges. Groups advocating for the false premise of “separation of church and state” have already threatened lawsuits, arguing that it breaches the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation have announced their intention to file a lawsuit.

These organizations argue that requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in schools constitutes “religious coercion of students, who are legally required to attend school and are thus a captive audience for school-sponsored religious messages.”

They believe the law contravenes U.S. Supreme Court precedent established in the 1980 Stone v. Graham decision. In a 5-4 ruling, the Burger court struck down a similar law in Kentucky, finding it violated the First Amendment. These are the same people who advocate for LGBTQ to be taught in classrooms all around America and for some reason, they are OK with that but not the Ten Commandments.

“The law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional,” the groups stated jointly. “The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government. Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”

Proponents of the law argue that it aims to underscore the historical importance of the document, with the legislation describing the Ten Commandments as one of the “foundational documents of our state and national government.”

The bill also permits schools to display other historical documents, such as the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance.

“Although this is a religious document, it is also displayed in over one hundred and eighty places, including the Supreme Court of the United States of America. I would say it is based on the laws that this country was founded on,” Republican state Senator Adam Bass told KALB last month.

Matt Krause, a lawyer with the religious liberty law firm First Liberty Institute, remarked that the new law acknowledges “the history and tradition of the Ten Commandments in the state.”

“Displaying this historic document on school walls is a great way to remind students of the foundations of American and Louisiana law,” said Krause, who testified in favor of a similar bill in Ohio. “First Liberty was pleased to assist in getting this bill to the Governor’s desk. We commend Louisiana for being the first, but certainly not the last, state to make this bold move for religious liberty.”