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Legislators in the state of Louisiana have passed a bill that would require all public schools to display the Ten Commandments. While Republican Governor Jeff Landry has yet to comment on whether he will sign the bill into law, it would most likely be challenged by both state and federal civil liberties unions, which have called the bill “unconstitutional.”
According to CNN, the bill was passed through the state’s House of Representatives in a vote of 79-16. If signed, the law would require all classrooms of public schools from kindergarten to college to display the Ten Commandments.
The wording of the bill, HB71, allows each school to decide upon “the nature of the display,” but it must at least be shown on a poster or framed document, sized at least 11x14 inches. Furthermore, it stipulates that the Ten Commandments must be the central focus of the display, printed in a font that is large enough to be easily read from anywhere in the classroom.
While opponents of the bill have argued that posting a document of religious origins in public schools is a breach of the separation of church and state, the bill has taken a different angle. It presents the Ten Commandments as an important historical and cultural document that played a pivotal role in the founding documents of the US.
The bill cited a quote from James Madison:
“History records that James Madison, the fourth President of the United States of America, stated that "(w)e have staked the whole future of our new nation ... upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
In this light, the Louisiana House has determined that the study of the Ten Commandments is instrumental to understanding the views of the founding fathers when they established a new nation.
CNN reports that activist groups have already vowed to take the legislation to court, if passed. In a joint statement from the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the group called the bill “unconstitutional:”
“The state may not require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Many faith-based and civil-rights organizations oppose this measure because it violates students’ and families’ fundamental right to religious freedom.”
