Via NOLA.com: Louisiana becomes 1st state to require the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms.
Louisiana will become the first state to require that public universities and K-12 schools display the Ten Commandments in every classroom after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to push forward new legislation Thursday.
[…]
“The purpose is not solely religious,” Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, told the Senate. Rather, it is the Ten Commandments’ “historical significance, which is simply one of many documents that display the history of our country and foundation of our legal system.”
While there are clearly ways in which the text in question could be studied and discussed for legitimate educational purposes, let’s be clear: forcing a display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom is absolutely for religious purposes. (Also: does this mean every room used for teaching at Lousiana public colleges and universities should put up posters of the Commandments?).
I realize that making claims about “historical significance” is an attempt to give the courts an out here, but this is quite obviously just an attempt at venerating a specific religious symbol (and I think the symbolism is far more important to those who push these things than is the text). Indeed, one of the things about these displays that always strikes me is the display of the list is treated like some kind of talisman, which at least in part undercuts the prohibition, in the Ten Commandments, against “graven images.” This was especially true when Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore snuck a giant monument into the court building back in the day.
I have never understood why people think that the Ten Commandments have some sort of magical power if displayed in a school or government building except, as noted, as a means of asserting a specific religious point of view on the public. It isn’t like people will think that murder is ok without the display in question (nor will kids in school stop coveting their neighbor’s Xbox or girlfriend if the Commandments are on display).
I really only find this story of interest because it will likely eventually give SCOTUS the chance to rule on this subject and it will end up being a test for how far right the Court has gone. I would not at all be surprised if the current Court upheld the right of Louisiana to require the posting of a specific religious text in public schools.
Side note, any discussion of the Ten Commandments makes me think of this:
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Author: Steven L. Taylor
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