BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) — Louisiana has change into the primary state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms, the newest move by a Republican-dominated legislature pursuing a conservative agenda under a brand new governor.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start with the original lawgiver, Moses,” who received the commandments from God, Landry said.
Opponents questioned the constitutionality of the law and announced they’d challenge it in court. Supporters said the measure was not only religious but additionally had historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government.”
The posters will probably be accompanied by a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “have been a vital part of the American public education system for nearly three centuries.” They have to be in classrooms by early 2025.
According to the law, no state funds must be used to implement the order. The posters must be financed through donations.
The law also “allows” but doesn’t require the display of other items in public schools. These include: the Mayflower Treaty, signed by religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and also known as America's “first constitution”; the Declaration of Independence; and the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government within the Northwest Territory — in what’s now the Midwest — and paved a way for brand new states to be admitted to the Union.
Shortly after the governor signed the bill on Wednesday at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette, civil rights groups and organizations that seek to maintain religion out of presidency announced plans to file a lawsuit difficult the bill.
The law prevents students from receiving an equal education and causes children of other faiths to feel unsafe at school, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation said in a joint statement on Wednesday afternoon.
“Even among those who believe in a version of the Ten Commandments, the specific text they adhere to may vary by denomination or tradition. The government should not take sides in this theological debate,” the groups said.
The controversial law in a Bible Belt state comes during a brand new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. Republicans hold an amazing majority within the Legislature and hold all statewide elected offices, paving the best way for lawmakers to push a conservative agenda.
Similar bills requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms have been proposed in other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah. However, because of threats of legal challenges over the constitutionality of such measures, no state aside from Louisiana has succeeded in passing the bills.
Legal disputes over the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms are nothing recent.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the same law in Kentucky was unconstitutional and violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress “shall make no law establishing a State religion.” The Supreme Court found that the law had a distinctly religious purpose, not a secular one.
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Associated Press reporter Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed.
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