John

The state of Louisiana has passed a law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in every public K-12 and higher education classroom in the state. This is a bold incursion of religion into the public schools, in blatant disregard of the separation of church and state.

Now, Republicans seeking to enshrine one religion as supreme in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah are considering the same legislation.

The bill’s proponents don’t care that a nearly identical law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1980. That case, Stone v. Graham, found that a Kentucky law requiring schools to post a copy of the Ten Commandments in every public classroom violated the establishment clause.

This clause, from the First Amendment, states clearly that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” It protects both freedom of religion, for the faithful to practice in their own way, and freedom from religion, for those who do not adhere to any one set of beliefs.

In public schools, students must feel welcome to learn and thrive in an inclusive environment that respects all faiths, or none whatsoever. Students must not feel any coercion concerning their religious beliefs from school faculty or administration.

This is a fundamental right of all Americans. Freedom of religion does not mean one religion is free to impose itself on everyone else.

Protect the separation of church and state! Reject all laws that require displays of religious texts, including the Ten Commandments, in public schools.

If the Ten Commandments are allowed to take over every classroom in Louisiana, we can be sure that the religious zealots will not stop there. They will work to extend their victory as far as they possibly can.

Louisiana is betting that today’s radical far-right Supreme Court will overturn the previous judgment, as they have already done in other major cases. But we must stop these attempts to force everyone of all faiths to adhere to one particular faith’s expressions of belief. No one has freedom of religion if any religion is promoted in the public schools.

It’s particularly ironic that today’s Republican party would be pushing for displaying the Ten Commandments, given that their standard bearer, Donald Trump, has broken perhaps all of them. As the Never-Trumper Republicans at the Lincoln Project note, Trump’s history vis-a-vis the Commandments is spotty at best:

• Thou Shalt Not Steal: Trump defrauded the state of New York of $354 million.

• Thou Shalt Not Lie: Trump found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.

• Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery: Trump paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about their sexual encounter.

• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Trump boasts: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?”

• Thou Shalt Not Have Any Gods Before Me: Trump claims “I am the chosen one,” eliciting admiration at his rallies.

Tell state and federal legislators to keep our schools free of religion, so all students will enjoy religious freedom. Say NO to Ten Commandments displays in public schools.

Thank you for standing up for every student’s right to go to school without feeling any coercion or rejection, based on their own religious beliefs, or on having none at all.

- DFA AF Team