Louisiana is now the first state to mandate that the text be displayed at all public schools and colleges.
By Bill Pan
Louisiana has become the first state to enact a law mandating that the Ten Commandments be prominently displayed at all public schools and colleges.
Under legislation that became law on June 18, Louisiana schools that receive state funds will have to display the Ten Commandments “in each building it uses and classroom in each school under its jurisdiction.”
The bill specifies that the text must be presented at the main focal point of a poster or framed document measuring at least 11 inches by 14 inches and printed in a “large and easily readable font.”
It also requires a 200-word “context statement” explaining that the Ten Commandments were “a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
According to the context statement, the Ten Commandments had been included in some of the most popular textbooks in U.S. history, published by prominent public education pioneers such as William McGuffey and Noah Webster.
For example, Webster’s “The American Spelling Book” contained the Ten Commandments and sold more than 100 million copies for use by public school children all across the nation. It was still available for use in U.S. public schools as recently as 1975.
The Republican-backed measure was approved by the Louisiana state Senate on a 30–8 margin on May 16. It reached Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk after receiving a final House approval in a 79–16 vote on May 28.
The measure was spearheaded by Republican state Rep. Dodie Horton. Last year, she successfully led a legislative effort to require the national motto “In God We Trust” to be displayed in classrooms across the state.
While more than a dozen states have enacted laws mandating or explicitly allowing schools to display the phrase, the Louisiana law goes one step further to require signage in each individual classroom.
The Establishment Clause Debate
In 1980, a divided U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, holding that the law signaled the government endorsement of “a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths,” in violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
“If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments,” the high court’s 5–4 majority wrote at the time. “However desirable this might be as a matter of private devotion, it is not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause.”
In recent years, the Supreme Court appears to have become more open to a less restrictive interpretation of the establishment clause while placing greater emphasis on the country’s history and tradition.
In defense of her Ten Commandments measure, Ms. Horton highlighted the text’s historical significance, arguing that the bill honors its unique place in Louisiana’s history. In the law’s language, the Ten Commandments are described as “foundational documents of our state and national government.”
“The Ten Commandments are the basis of all laws in Louisiana,” she said on the House floor in April. “And given all the junk our children are exposed to in classrooms today, it’s imperative that we put the Ten Commandments back in a prominent position.
“It doesn’t preach a certain religion, but it definitely shows what a moral code that we all should live by is.”
Last year, the Texas Senate approved a similar bill. However, the measure died after the House failed to vote on it before a deadline passed.
A Utah bill would have required all of the state’s public schools to “display a poster or framed copy” of the Ten Commandments in a “prominent location” in every one of their buildings. The bill has since been changed to allow biblical principles to be taught as part of school curricula.
Author (Reporter)
Bill Pan is an Epoch Times reporter covering education issues and New York news.
peckford42 
An amazing phenomena, a terrifying one to witness both “Liberalz” and Conservatives eagerly finding ways to cancel the First Amendment.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
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The Satanic Temple will move in and demand equal rights and the schools will have to make a choice to either remove the Ten Commandments or allow display of Satanic 10 Commandments (or whatever they come up with). Satanic Temple is a recognized religion thanks to the 1st Gay President (Time Magazine) Obamba and all religions are recognized equal in the Court system by design.
Worshiping Yahweh (the Creator) is not a religion. Man created the concept of religion and by doing so created confusion (pantheon of gods) just for this purpose.
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Some rules to live by right there, basic rules for a civilized society. Not one in which we are living currently. The herd has been brainwashed, the herd has been corrupted with a confirmed bioweapon which attacks the brain and affects reason.
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THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS MYSTICAL DEMONS in the real world. There’s only the evasion of reality that ultimately creates demons out of flesh and blood existing to realize their power lust (to conquer and control other men, women, and children).
Without explicit awareness of Aristotle’s beneficial influences to Christianity, whole societies become unmoored from reality and self destruct (re. 1930’s Germany and Italy). This lack of awareness was perpetrated on purpose by those (German philosophers) who knew what they were doing. Motivated by power lust.
The only “mortal sin” there is, the one mortal vice from which all others emanate is the evasion, denial, fabrication of reality. People lie to us because they lie to their own selves to maintain their imaginary Utopia.
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