Louisiana has passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all classrooms at public day care centers, schools, colleges and universities in large, easily legible print. The rule, approved by the state legislature, with a Republican majority, has been signed by the governor of Louisiana, also a conservative Jeff Landry, and challenges the jurisprudence on the matter of the United States Supreme Court.
HB 71 requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all classrooms on “a poster or framed document at least 11 by 14 inches,” 28 by 36 centimeters. The Commandments should be the “central focus” of the poster and be “printed in a large, easily readable font.” The bill also requires that a specific version of the Ten Commandments, issued by the state legislature, be used. The Ten Commandments posters will be accompanied by a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how they “were a prominent part of American public education for nearly three centuries.”
Other measures also approved authorize the hiring of chaplains in schools, restrict teachers from mentioning sexual orientation or gender identity and prevent schools from using the preferred name or pronouns of a transgender student unless parents do so. authorize
In 1980, in the case Stone vs. Graham, The Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the so-called establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress may “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The High Court considered that this law did not have a secular purpose, but rather responded to a clearly religious purpose. The flood of immigration from the first colonies, with people who professed different religions, led the so-called Founding Fathers of the United States to recognize religious freedom and, at the same time, leave it aside from government affairs. As Thomas Jefferson noted, there was to be “a wall of separation” between Church and State.
Cracks in the wall
Louisiana Republicans have new assets to ensure that the Supreme Court does not annul their law. On the one hand, they claim that the Ten Commandments have historical value beyond religious value. On the other hand, its placement will not be financed with public funds, but through donations. One of the arguments for the separation between Church and State of the Founding Fathers was that making those who professed one religion pay taxes to use public funds in favor of another seemed against nature. But the main asset is that the Supreme Court now has a clear conservative majority that has already opened cracks in that wall.
That majority ruled that public funds used by the State of Maine to help students in a scholarship program could be used in religious schools. According to the majority judges, the separation between Church and State required by the Constitution was not affected by this and, on the other hand, leaving the students of these schools out of scholarships violated their religious freedom. In another ruling, they ruled in favor of the coach of a public high school football team, who was fired for kneeling and praying in the middle of the field at the end of the games. The progressive judges of the Supreme Court interpreted that this attitude somehow forced the players to join and, therefore, favored a religion from the public powers. However, the conservative majority considered that freedom of expression and worship prevailed and that the coach could not be fired for exercising it, but rather had the constitutional right to pray like this.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start with the original legislator, who was Moses,” who received God’s commandments, Governor Landry, who has led an ultra-conservative turn in the law, said at the law-signing ceremony. Louisiana since he replaced Democrat John Bel Edwards in January, thanks to the fact that Republicans have control of the legislature and all state offices.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation announced that they will file a lawsuit to prevent the application of the law, which comes into force at the beginning of 2025. “The law violates the separation between Church and State and is openly unconstitutional. The First Amendment promises that we can all decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government. Politicians do not have to impose their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools,” they indicated in a statement.
The law prevents students from receiving an equal education and will prevent children who have different beliefs from feeling safe at school, they argue. “Even among those who believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the specific text they adhere to may differ depending on the religious denomination or tradition. The government should not take sides in this theological debate,” the groups add.
The law also “authorizes” but does not require the display of other items in public schools, including the Declaration of Independence and the Mayflower Compact, which religious pilgrims signed aboard the Mayflower in 1620.
Similar bills requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms have been proposed in other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah, AP reports. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, no state other than Louisiana has managed to sign these bills into law.
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