RELIGIOUS FREEDOM | JULY 25, 2024

New Louisiana Law Mandates Ten Commandments Displays in All Public Schools

The governor of Louisiana has signed into law a bill requiring that every public school classroom in Louisiana display a copy of the Ten Commandments starting at the beginning of 2025. The law would affect thousands of classrooms in the state, from kindergartens to public universities.

The Louisiana State Capitol. (Photo by CRobertson/iStock via Getty Images)

In passing the bill, its proponents cited the historical role of the Ten Commandments in U.S. law rather than their religious meaning. In the words of State Representative Dodie Horton, the legislative sponsor of the new law, “The significance is historical. Our laws are based on the Ten Commandments. In fact, without them, a lot of our laws would not exist.” In signing the bill, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry stated: “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”

The law specifies that the displays will not be paid for with public funds but with donations. It also requires that a “context statement” be posted with the display that describes how the Commandments were once historically part of U.S. education, dating back to colonial times.

The impending litigation is only the latest in a long series of lawsuits concerning when and where the Ten Commandments may or may not be displayed in public places.

Opponents of the new law claim that the bill’s purpose is not historical or educational but to use the power of government to enforce one religious viewpoint on all students throughout Louisiana. Another criticism is that the bill mandates that a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments be used, whereas Jews and Catholics use somewhat different language. In the words of one rabbi, “the placing of a Protestant text will seem, to many people, as the government establishment of a religion.”

Several educators have already stated that they believe the law to be unconstitutional and will not post the display.

The most significant challenge is a lawsuit filed on June 24, less than a week after the bill became law, demanding that it be declared unconstitutional. Attorneys from several groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are representing parents of Louisiana public school children of different religious backgrounds. In the words of one parent plaintiff, a Presbyterian minister, “This display sends a message to my children and other students that people of some religious dominations are superior to others.”

Governor Landry was well aware of the litigation and controversy that would ensue when he signed the bill stating, “I can’t wait to be sued.”

The impending litigation is only the latest in a long series of lawsuits concerning when and where the Ten Commandments may or may not be displayed in public places. In the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Van Orden v. Perry, the majority held that a privately funded Commandments exhibit at the Texas State Capitol did not constitute an establishment of religion. The case is referenced in the new Louisiana law, however that decision only affected one display of the Commandments, not thousands. Courts have approved displays in some cases and rejected them in others.

The litigation over the Louisiana law will likely take several years to resolve.

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