Louisiana has become the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom, the latest move from a GOP-dominated Legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor.
Legislation signed into law Wednesday by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry requires the Poster-sized Ten Commandments to be displayed in “large, easy-to-read font” in all public classrooms, from kindergartens to state-funded universities.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start with the original legislator, which is Moses,” who got the commandments from God, Landry said.
Opponents questioned the constitutionality of the law and vowed to challenge it in court. Supporters said that this measure is not only religious, but also has historical importance. In the language of law, the Ten Commandments are “the founding documents of our state and national government.”
The posters, which will be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments have been “a prominent part of American public education for nearly three centuries,” must be in classrooms by the beginning of 2025.
Under the law, state funds will not be used to implement the mandate. The posters will be paid for through donations.
The law also “authorizes” but does not require other items to be offered in K-12 public schools, including: The Mayflower Charter, which was signed by religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620, and is often referred to as “ America's First Constitution. ; Declaration of independence; and the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory—now in the Midwest—and created a path for new states to be admitted into the Union.
Shortly after the governor signed the bill into law at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette on Wednesday, civil rights groups and organizations that want to keep religion out of government promised to file a lawsuit challenging it.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation said in a joint statement Wednesday that the law prevents students from receiving an equal education and will prevent children with different beliefs from feeling safe in school. afternoon.
“Even among those who may believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the specific text they adhere to can vary by religious denomination or tradition. The government should not take sides in this doctrinal debate,” the groups said.
The controversial law, in a state located in the Bible Belt, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. The Republican Party holds an overwhelming majority in the Legislature, and Republicans hold every statewide elected office, paving the way for lawmakers to push a conservative agenda.
Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states including… TexasOklahoma and Utah. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, no state besides Louisiana has succeeded in enacting the bill.
Legal battles over displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms are nothing new.
In 1980, the US Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution, which states that Congress cannot “make a law respecting an establishment of religion.” The Supreme Court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a clearly religious purpose.
Associated Press reporter Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.