Following Louisiana’s effort to incorporate the Ten Commandments into classrooms across the state, a federal judge judge blocked the law. According to U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles it was “overly religious” initiative that contradicts the First Amendment.
The proposal from earlier this year sparked backlash among secular opponents but garnered praise from religious conservatives. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry reacted to the opposition to the effort, maintaining that the nation has “eroded” now that it is controversial to promote the Ten Commandments.
“I didn’t know that living the Ten Commandments is a bad way to live life,” Landry said. “I didn’t know that it was so vile to obey the Ten Commandments. I think that speaks volumes about how eroded this country has become. I mean, look, this country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and every time we steer away from that, we have problems in our nation. I mean, right now, schools… basically treat kids like critters and yet the Ten Commandments is something bad to put in schools? It’s just amazing, it really is.”
Former President Trump has also promoted the Ten Commandments in schools. “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???,” Trump posted on social media. “THIS MAY BE, IN FACT, THE FIRST MAJOR STEP IN THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION, WHICH IS DESPERATELY NEEDED, IN OUR COUNTRY. BRING BACK TTC!!! MAGA2024.”
The Christian Tribune reported on other pro-faith efforts for public schools, where the Oklahoma Education Department established the “Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism.” State Superintendent Ryan Walters explained the important of the measure.
Walters stated, “For decades our nation’s public schools have tragically been ground zero for the erosion of religious liberty across our country. The radical left never misses a chance to co- opt the teacher unions and their minions to indoctrinate our children against traditional values of faith and family, seeking to attack any display of faith or religion or patriotism. It is no coincidence that the dismantling of faith and family values in public schools directly correlates with declining academic outcomes in our public schools. In Oklahoma, we are reversing this negative trend and, working with the incoming Trump Administration, we are going to aggressively pursue education policies that will improve academic outcomes and give our children a better future.”
A statement from the Oklahoma State Department of Education read, “The new office will be charged with supporting teachers and students when their constitutional rights are threatened by well-funded, out of state groups as happened in Skiatook last year when a school was bullied into removing Bible quotes from a classroom. At the time, Superintendent Walters was clear in his assessment: “the removal of Bible verses from display in Skiatook under the threat of a baseless lawsuit is unacceptable. The Constitution guarantees, and the Supreme Court has affirmed in Kennedy v. Bremerton, the right of teachers to religious freedom and expression. American citizens do not give up their right to practice their faith at the schoolhouse door or anywhere else.”
Featured image credit: Joshua Keller, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gutenberg_Bible,_New_York_Public_Library,_USA._Pic_01.jpg