Perspective Piece: The Louisiana Law Jeopardizes the Ten Commandments' Sacred Status
Louisiana's House Bill 71, signed into law by GOP Governor Jeff Landry, aims to dishonestly secularize a deeply religious artifact by requiring its display in public schools.
This pioneering law is the first to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments, enforcing their presence in "elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools" on a poster that is at least "11 inches by 14 inches." Other states, such as Utah, Texas, and South Carolina, have attempted to pass similar legislation.
In 2022, the Supreme Court decided that a high school football coach could publicly pray on the 50-yard line following games. Although this decision was based on the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, it and others are being distorted to fuel advocates of these unconstitutional bills that clearly violate the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from establishing a "religion."
HB 71 not only breaches the separation of church and state, but undermines the commandments' divine nature. The legislation mentions civil documents like The Mayflower Compact of 1620, citing phrases such as "a Covenant with Almighty God to ‘form a civil body politic'" to place the compact on the same historical level as the deeply religious Ten Commandments. This mischaracterization relegates the commandments to a mere historical artifact, diluting faith, falsifying the origin of scripture, and violating the Constitution.
Proponents of HB 71 hope that the Supreme Court will overturn rulings like Stone v. Graham, which determined in 1980 that "requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school rooms has no secular legislative purpose, and is therefore unconstitutional."
To make the law appear constitutional, supporters argue that the Ten Commandments are historical documents, integral to the foundation of Western civilization. State senators like Adam Bass point to their display at the Supreme Court, where depictions of Moses and the tablets appear in sculptures and carvings. At the same time, the author of the bill, Rep. Dodie Horton, praises the measure for bringing "God and 'God’s laws'" into the classroom.
The Ten Commandments affected universal Western principles, including the value of life, the importance of honesty, and the need for justice. "Thou shalt not kill" influenced prohibitions against taking innocent life, while "Thou shalt not steal" formed the basis for laws protecting property rights. The concept of "not bearing false witness" relates to perjury laws, and "honor thy father and mother" shaped societal values around family and respect for elders.
However, in essence, the Ten Commandments are fundamentally religious edicts. Monotheistic faiths like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam believe these directives are divine mandates from God to Moses, establishing a moral order deeply rooted in theistic belief. Unlike other scripture, these commandments are described in Exodus as "written with the hand of God." It's confusing why religious people would want children (or anyone) viewing them as primarily historical documents.
Jews worldwide celebrate the deeply religious holiday of Shavuot through public readings of the Ten Commandments in synagogues. There is even a custom to stay up all night studying the Torah to commemorate the historic revelation and rectify the mistake of the Israelites falling asleep the night before God gave the commandments.
An amendment to HB 71 allows for the concurrent voluntary display of historical documents such as the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance. While trying to make those documents analogous to the deeply religious text of the Decalogue, forcing religion in classrooms is still apparent — displaying the commandments would be required, but the civil documents voluntary.
Placing the commandments on equal footing with those historical documents is a blow to religion, and no reasonable person would agree that a declaration or pledge citing “God” is the same as a religious text described as a product of the “hand of God.”
Moreover, the Ten Commandments include directives explicitly referencing God and religious observance, such as "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3) and "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). These commandments enforce specific religious beliefs, unlike the general ethics drawn from other documents, such as the Declaration of Independence or Magna Carta, that also reference God.
The next step may be interpreting the Sabbath as promoting mere "work-life" balance or regarding "having no other God" as a new-age warning against the worship of people, materialism, or false values. Misrepresenting these religious texts as civil documents removes the spirituality inherent in religious practice and belief.
HB 71 itself also unconstitutionally takes sides on religious expression since it would require a display of the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments, translated from the King James Bible. Since Catholics, Muslims, and Jews have different versions of the commandments, displaying the Protestant version endorses it over other religious versions (and traditions like Buddhism and Hinduism, which don't have it at all), violating the separation of church and state.
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To delve deeper into the distinctly religious essence of the Ten Commandments, even in historical perspective, let's examine other ancient legal systems. The Code of Hammurabi brings up the deity Shamash and offers an extensive legal system tailored for Babylon, reflecting the demands and organization of old Mesopotamia. Likewise, the Twelve Tables addressed the legal issues of Roman citizens in the 5th century BCE. The Egyptians had the goddess Ma’at overseeing truth and justice, while the Greeks employed their pantheon of 12 Gods to pass moral teachings.
In contrast, the Bible depicts the Ten Commandments as being bestowed in the Sinai Desert wilderness, far from societal impact, emphasizing their divine origin and non-secular human creation.
Removing Ten Commandment displays from public schools demonstrates our respect for their religious sanctity and recognition of their importance in religious practices such as Shavuot celebrations. By safeguarding tradition, we aim to avoid watering down their significance and maintain public education as a space that refrains from promoting any specific religion.
Recent developments have led to an update in this story.
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The debate around HB 71 has led to various opinions on its constitutionality and implications. Critics argue that it violates the separation of church and state and misrepresents the Ten Commandments as primarily historical documents, diluting their religious significance.
On the other hand, supporters of HB 71 claim that the Ten Commandments are historical documents integral to Western civilization and that displaying them in schools is a constitutional act, citing examples like the Supreme Court's decorations featuring Moses and the tablets.
