BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana has become the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms, under a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday.
Legislation drafted by the Republican Party requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments, in “large, easy-to-read font,” to be required in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities. Although the bill has not received final approval from Landry, the time for government action – sign or veto the bill – has expired.
Opponents question the constitutionality of the law, warning that lawsuits would likely follow. Proponents say the purpose of the measure is not just religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are described as “fundamental documents of our state and national government.”
Civil liberties groups announced Wednesday that they planned to challenge the Louisiana law in court. In a joint statement, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana and the Religious Freedom Foundation said “the law violates the separation of church and state and It’s blatantly unconstitutional.” .”
“The First Amendment promises that we will all decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government,” the statement added. “Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”
The displays, which will be accompanied by a four-paragraph “contextual statement” that describes how the Ten Commandments “have been a prominent part of American public education for nearly three centuries,” are expected to be installed in classrooms by early 2025.
The posters would be paid for through donations. State funds will not be used to implement the mandate, based on the wording of the legislation.
The law also “authorizes” – but does not require – the display of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance in public elementary and secondary schools.
Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, no state other than Louisiana has been successful in making the bills law.
Legal battles over the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms are not new.
In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress may “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court concluded that the law did not have a secular purpose but served a clearly religious purpose.
Louisiana’s controversial law, in a Bible Belt state, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in the state under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic governor John Bel Edwards in January.
The Republican Party also has a two-thirds majority in the Legislature, and Republicans hold every elected office statewide, paving the way for lawmakers to advance a conservative agenda during the legislative session that concluded earlier this month.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
