CV NEWS FEED// This Wednesday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed House Bill 71, requiring every public classroom in Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments.
The poster must be at least 11 inches by 14 inches and include several paragraphs explaining the historical significance of the Ten Commandments in American education. The posters must be up by Jan. 1, 2025. However, schools may use donated funds to purchase the displays, or use donated displays.
Louisiana is the first state to successfully pass a bill requiring the display of the Ten Commandments, as similar legislation failed to pass in Texas, Utah, and Oklahoma. However, the bill does rely on legal and historical precedent.
HB71 cites the Supreme Court case Van Orden Vs. Perry, where the court deemed it permissible to display the Ten Commandments on government property. It also relies on the Supreme Court case American Legion v. American Humanists Association, which recognized that displaying the Ten Commandments has a historical and cultural purpose because the Ten Commandments has “historical significance as one of the foundations of our legal system.”
The document also quotes James Madison on the importance of the Ten Commandments. Madison said, “(W)e have staked the whole future of our new nation . . . upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
State House Rep. Dodie Horton, who authored the bill, defended HB71 before the House in April, saying, “I hope and I pray that Louisiana is the first state to allow moral code to be placed back in the classrooms.”
Critics of the bill argue that it violates the First Amendment, and certain civil rights organizations argue that it will make students who do not believe in the Ten Commandments feel unsafe. American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation made a joint statement promising to file a lawsuit in response to the legislation.
