LA Governor Signs "Ten Commandments in LA Schools" Bill Into Law

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Louisiana’s governor Jeff Landry just signed legislation to require public classrooms display the Ten Commandments – setting up a clash over the separation of church and state that seems destined for the courts.

The Republican governor invoked Moses yesterday, as he signed the bill:


The supreme court has struck down previous attempts by states to mandate the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, but they last ruled on the issue four decades ago.

Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms

Law passed requiring text to be displayed in every public school classroom, although lawsuits against it are expected

www.theguardian.com

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(The Guardian) US civil liberties groups have sued Louisiana for what they called its “blatantly unconstitutional” new law requiring all state-funded schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

The state’s rightwing Republican governor, Jeff Landry, who succeeded the former Democratic governor John Bel Edwards in January, provocatively declared after signing the statute on Wednesday: “I can’t wait to be sued.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) joined with its Louisiana affiliate and two other bodies – Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom of Religion Foundation – to immediately take him up on his challenge by announcing they were doing precisely that.


In a joint statement, the ACLU and its allies said the law, HB 71, amounted to religious coercion. They also said it violated Louisiana state law, longstanding precedent established by the US supreme court and the first amendment of the US constitution, which guarantees separation of church and state.

 

[MrDawn]

The issue with allowing the 10 Commandments in public schools, that which violates the Establishment Clause, also means that it opens the door to allow other non Christian religions to practice in public schools. After all, freedom of religion doesn't just apply to Christianity. So the real question is, are Christians okay with Muslim and Hindu teachers indoctrinating their kids with their religious beliefs?

 

[Webster]

The issue with allowing the 10 Commandments in public schools, that which violates the Establishment Clause, also means that it opens the door to allow other non Christian religions to practice in public schools. After all, freedom of religion doesn't just apply to Christianity. So the real question is, are Christians okay with Muslim and Hindu teachers indoctrinating their kids with their religious beliefs?

This is nothing more than a set-up case in the hopes the Supreme Court will overturn the 1962 Abington decision which prohibited the state-mandated display of religious symbols in public schools (in this case, the 10 Commandments).

Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)

School Dist. of Abington Tp. v. Schempp: Public schools cannot sponsor Bible readings and recitations of the Lord’s Prayer under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

supreme.justia.com

What I won't be surprised at is that groups such as the Satanic Temple will try to use this law to get their foot in the proverbial door the same way they've tried in some states to do so whenever the issue of allowing religious groups to operate on school grounds ever comes up (groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, etc.)

The Satanic Temple - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Satanic Temple - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org