Louisiana became the first state to enact a law requiring that the “Ten Commandments” be displayed in every public school classroom. Others have proposed such laws, but they didn’t pass. Governor Jeff Landry, who is Catholic, signed the law in a Catholic school, which is somewhat strange since the law applies only to public schools.
The New York Times reports that the bill is part of a larger agenda to turn the U.S. into an explicitly Christian nation. Despite the fact that the Founders wrote extensively against religion controlling the state and said in the Constitution that there could be no religious test for office-holders, the religious right continues to shove their religion—and only their religion—on everyone else
The crowd at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette, La., applauded Gov. Jeff Landry as he signed bill after bill this week on public education in the state, making it clear he believed God was guiding his hand.
One new law requires that transgender students be addressed by the pronouns for the gender on their birth certificates (“God gives us our mark,” he said). Another allows public schools to employ chaplains (“a great step for expanding faith in public schools”).
Then he signed into law a mandate that the Ten Commandments be hung in every public classroom, demonstrating a new willingness for Louisiana to go where other states have not. Last month, Louisiana also became the first state to classify abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances.
“We don’t quit,” Mr. Landry, a Republican, said at the signing ceremony.
Taken together, the measures have signaled the ambition of the governor and the Republican-led Legislature to be at the forefront of a growing national movement to create and interpret laws according to a particular conservative Christian worldview. And Mr. Landry, a Catholic who has been vocal about his faith’s influence in shaping his politics, wants to lead the charge.
It’s ironic to see a Catholic leading the charge, because for many years, the U.S. was strongly anti-Catholic. Governor Landry’s new evangelical allies would not have welcomed him into the country or their tent. Anti-Catholic sentiment was so powerful in the 19th century that most states wrote into their state constitution that no public money could be sent, directly or indirectly, to any religious institution. Thomas Jefferson wrote eloquently about the “separation of church and state.”
“Separation” benefitted both the church and the state, by keeping churches free of government regulation, and by keeping the government free of sectarian meddling. Under our Constitution, everyone is free to practice their religion or no religion, and the state cannot (should not) be used to enforce religious doctrine.
But the goals of the new religious dominionists is to make America “a Christian nation” and to impose their beliefs through law on everyone else, whether they are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, atheist, Deist, Unitarian Universalist, Satanists, or any of the hundreds of other religions or sects in this country.
The Ten Commandments is purely symbolic. It’s one step in the plan to outlaw abortion, ban in-vitro fertilization, ban contraception, ban same-sex marriage, criminalize homosexuality, and restore the primacy of the father in families. It is the leading edge in a rightwing putsch to control the government and all of us.
Will posting this religious document solve any problems? Will it reduce crime or promiscuity or adultery? Donald Trump is a philanderer who has broken that commandment.
The Ten Commandments say nothing about abortion or gay rights or the rights of racial minorities or voting rights.
The Ten Commandments are a wish list . We should all strive to be better people. Hanging the Commandments on the wall doesn’t change anyone’s behavior. If they did, they should be hung in every prison cell. Let’s see how that works.
Ever notice that the states with the most fundies have the worst educational outcomes? Gee, I wonder why.
I almost wrote “fundie nutcases,” but that’s redundant.
Re “Hanging the Commandments on the wall doesn’t change anyone’s behavior. If they did, they should be hung in every prison. Let’s see how that works.” Brilliant! I wish I’d thought of that!
Once I glanced at a copy of the Ten Commandments when I was at a family member’s child’s christening, and when I got back home, the piece of turbot in the fridge and the loaf of French bread on my counter had both multiplied 1,500 times. And the water in my cold-brew tea and in my toilet had both turned into Pinot Noir.
Powerful stuff.
What a mess to clean up!
Cue Lucien Greaves! TST will be all over this in no time!
No doubt
Unfortunately, it will turn into s__t show and become nothing more than a distraction of the larger picture/problem. WE (as in We the People) are mentally weary from all of this nonsense.
Well said, LisaM.
And, as so many people are worn down by this debacle and “throw in the towel”, that only empowers the far right even more.
Meanwhile (pardon the digression), this week the Surgeon General proposed putting cigarette pack-type warning labels on social media. Curious as to what this corner of the internet thinks about THAT?
To quote a song from the long ago, ancient year of 1970:
“Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery
Breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that
Can’t you read the sign?”
-Five Man Electrical Band
We are mentally weary of all this nonsense.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Totally and absolutely INSANE! The Christo-fascists have taken control of Louisiana and spawned this obscenity of knuckle-dragging legislation. Just when you think that the stupidity and inanity can’t get any worse, it gets worse by light years. The ACLU has already launched a challenge against this horrible plot by Gov. Landry to turn public schools into quasi-religious schools. I’m sure that many more law suits will follow.
These right wing folks are so literal and emblematic, but they wear their hypocrisy on their sleeves. They support the flag, but vote against any benefits for those that have defended it. They are “pro-life,” but they can justify the death penalty, refuse to expand Medicaid and are willing to jail doctors and women that terminate fetuses, even when the mother’s life in danger and the fetus isn’t viable. They love their Bibles even though it contains lots of material deemed violent and unsavory, but nobody can dare ban “The Bible.”
The fact that the Founders wrote extensively doesn’t change the rule of money reality. Speaking in terms of what was doesn’t change what is. Resurrecting the thoughts of the dead doesn’t change the thoughts of the living. A strategy is only as good as the meaningful change it provides. So when it comes to NOT changing the strategy, who benefits???
If a lettuce leaf falls off a salad bowl, is e to the i times pi equal to zero, or do snakes have hips? In other words, other words.
And are serial killers still responsible given the origin of the universe? Are these not important questions to think about? Perhaps I would like a cup of tea. Yes, that seems more likely. As of this writing, sleds.
What all these commenters miss, though, what really matters: bobble. Doo ah doo ah day. Or QED, depending on your tastes.
Louisiana will face lawsuit over Ten Commandments school displays
JUNE 19, 2024
Four civil liberties groups will sue the state of Louisiana after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a law Wednesday that calls for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in school classrooms. The new rule applies to any school that accepts state money, including colleges and universities.
The American Civil Liberties Union, its Louisiana chapter, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation announced they intend to file a lawsuit to block enforcement of House Bill 71. The measure, authored by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in each classroom. The poster or framed document dimensions must be at least 11 inches by 14 inches.
Speaking at a Republican Party fundraiser in Tennessee over the weekend, Landry said he intended to sign the Ten Commandments bill into law, “and I can’t wait to be sued.”
The four groups bringing the lawsuit issued a joint statement that said, in part, the new law promotes specific religious beliefs to which many people in Louisiana do not subscribe.
“All students should feel safe and welcome in our public schools,” the statement said. “H.B. 71 would undermine this critical goal and prevent schools from providing an equal education to all students, regardless of faith. We will not allow Louisiana lawmakers to undermine these religious-freedom rights.”..
https://penncapital-star.com/government-politics/louisiana-will-face-lawsuit-over-ten-commandments-school-displays/
A trump supporter friend of mine wondered why I didn’t support having the 10 Commandments in every classroom. She wondered if I was an atheist of an agnostic. [I had written this comment to her.] I’m really getting tired of the ignorance that perpetrates too many in this country.
…………………………………….
Public schools are not Sunday schools.
Our Constitution, the rule of law, and our rights and freedoms are under attack.
The U.S. Constitution enshrines the right to practice any religion or no religion at all.
This is a line that should not be crossed. Congress should protect the separation of church and state. Christians can believe whatever they want. They do not have the right to tell others what they must think.
“You shall not commit adultery”
Would you really want to teach grade school children about what each of the Ten commandments means? Republicans want to ban books but teaching about adultery is just fine.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
How about explaining what coveting your neighbor’s wife means? Or for children who are girls, explain what coveting your neighbor’s male servant means.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
What should children whose parents have to work on Sunday think? Are they to go home and castigate their parents if they work? Taxi drivers, restaurant workers, ministers and other jobs often require parents to work on Sunday.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Not all children have Christian parents. Are they supposed to sit and listen while the teacher tells children that only a Christian God is acceptable?
I have a copy of the Quran. Should I get in front of a class and read parts of it?
I have a book written by Mary Baker Eddy. Should I also get in front of a class and tell everyone about Christian Science? Don’t ever go to a doctor because if you believe in Christian Science, you will be healed.
I have a copy of the “Book of Miracles”. Do I, as a teacher, have the right to read parts of it to the class?
Beautifully said, Carol!
Considering that The Ten Commandmants all start with “thou shalt not,” they are a perfect companion piece for the authoritarian playbook. I am in favor of separation of church and state. If I had to post something from “The Bible” in a classroom, it would be from The Beatitudes in Mathew, but its content is “too woke” for authoritarians.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Lovely. Or this, from Matthew 25:
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Bob: met s guy that sold Christian tee shirts. His favorite creation featured one of these verses juxtaposed with a forlorn child. It did not sell. He drank Scotch
I can see why the guy was disappointed. This was an important one. It’s a lovely thing when someone improves his or her life and finds room for, compassion for, others, whether driven by religion or no.
I love this beautiful comment so much, RT. You. Are. Awesome.
Utah has looked at this awful bill, as well. If it passes, I am putting up the 5 Pillars of Islam, the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, and any other religious posters I can think of.
And what about the 13 Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? One would think that in Utah, of all places, folks would care about this one.
The whole of The Dao De Jing could be printed on a single poster. Five posters could contain the whole of the Analects.
Which of these two classroom postings should take priority:
The Ten Commandments
The Pledge of Allegience.
Neither.
The pledge as it now exists is unconstitutional establishment of religion. And in general, I think we should avoid having children give rote acceptance to credos that they are not old enough to understand and make a rational decision to adhere to. Early nationalist indoctrination is not a proper goal in a democracy. Free choice to love and defend our country on reaching adulthood is.
Why not post One Love by Bob Marley?
What a great idea!
Praxis Writing, Editing, and Design: Image (wordpress.com)
And these schools should definitely all post The Charge of the Goddess:
Charge of the Goddess, for Beltane | Bob Shepherd | Praxis (wordpress.com)
Re: Jefferson “…benefitted both the church and the state, by keeping churches free of government regulation, and by keeping the government free of sectarian meddling.”
So if they’ve accepted comingling Church and State, let’s get serious enforcing and posting in every Church office State education policies and federal laws on non-discrimination in hiring practices, certification for educators, background / fingerprint checks for all employees…
As pointed out in this excerpt from an article in the Forward by Lara Crigger, “I’m a Louisiana Jew. The Ten Commandments get lost in translation in the new law ” – Louisiana can’t even get the Bible right.
“Turns out, the Louisiana legislators adopted their version of the Ten Commandments not from the original Hebrew, nor from one of the 64 official Christian Biblical translations available, but from a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case: Van Orden v. Perry.
“That case argued the constitutionality of displaying a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds. The stone monument in question was donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1961, and it’s not readily apparent which translation they used.”
3rd Grader, learning to read, comes home and asks –
“Mommy, Mommy, What is Adultery?”
Mom – “Shut up and don’t ask.”
“Mommy. Mommy. What is Adultery?”
“It’s this game that adults play when they get bored.”
“How do you play it?”
“Very well, thanks.”
My paternal grandmother told her daughters, my aunts, that adultery is putting water in the milk.
If that Christian Nationalist Cult Law (who practice greed, hate, power, not what Jesus Christ taught) doesn’t specify language, they should be in Biblical Aramaic citing the Supreme Court Justices who believe in originalism as far back as possible to judge cases that reach them.
Great idea. Post the commandments in Hebrew.
If anyone is really an originalist, why stop at 10? There are, pardon, originalistically 613 Commandments, including, for example: the High Priest must marry a virgin maiden, the court must send the accidental murderer to a city of refuge, thou shalt not lend or borrow with interest, and the Nazir must not cut his hair or eat grapes Not even grape seeds. Seriously, not even raisins. Or wine. No raisins for Nazirs is its own specific law. Very specific. Not like certain constitutional amendments. Looking at you, number two. Definitely a clear separation of biblical commandments and U.S. laws. Very different from one another.
I love the idea of posting the Big 10 in Hebrew! Be originalists!
I would think if they give the green light to post The Ten Commandments, they would have to post salient points from other world religions as well. Louisiana is opening up Pandora’s box.
this is s meme going around on Facebook
the people promoting this are just trying to distract us permanently so they can pick our pockets. They are far more interested in golden parachutes than the golden rule
That which people do not understand* are the very things they want to legislate as a prohibition or requirement to impose on everyone else.
*the deal is not what they believe, it’s what they don’t understand.
Or maybe they just hear “love some of thy neighbors.”
It is also the intention of the radical right to impose on and actively indoctrinate others. They do what they accuse the public schools of doing. They seem to be impervious to self-awareness.
Sorry, the Ten Commandments is not a “wish list.” To quote Billy Joel, “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints….”
Louisiana has always been an extreme outlier. When I took Constitutional Law I remember my professor saying from time to time, “Of course, that law came from Louisiana, so we know what happened.” Meaning, the Supremes cut that mother short.
Louisiana’s law was an implementation of the Napoleonic Code. It was not a common law state, like all the other states were.
Not all “codes” were welcome, though. Especially the Uniform Commercial Code. Many businesses avoided Louisiana because they couldn’t count on getting paid, or any of the guarantees provided by the UCC, and didn’t want to have to hire lawyers who understood French law (a small market in the U.S.).
I choose to believe that even the current SCOTUS will smack this down.
That’s what I don’t understand about Utah going all-in-one on this Christian Nationalist crap. Mormons would be a target. But Utah’s legislature keeps passing these kinds of laws anyway.
Who is electing these nutcases? Is there any hope he’ll get booted out next election?
So ironic that a state where voters worship a man who bears false witness against his neighbors and commits adultery would require children to have the Ten Commandments in their classroom. “Mommy, you don’t believe in the Ten Commandments for your president, so why do you want me to read them every day?” These folks who want the Ten Commandments up don’t believe in the Ten Commandments at all.
Maybe they should post only eight commandments, leaving out the one about adultery and the other about lying. The Eight Commandments.
Ha! Maybe they should just use an askerisk on the others:
Thou shalt not steal*
*unless you are stealing donations made to a charitable foundation to pay for a 6-foot portrait of yourself, or you decide to steal charitable donations to pay for sports memorabilia and champagne – then it’s fine to steal.
Did you see Trump’s embrace of this?
“Trump also endorsed displaying the Ten Commandments in schools and elsewhere while speaking to a group of politically influential evangelical Christians in Washington on Saturday. He drew cheers as he invoked a new law signed in Louisiana this week requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
“Has anyone read the ‘Thou shalt not steal’? I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It’s just incredible,” Trump said at the gathering of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “They don’t want it to go up. It’s a crazy world.’’
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-endorses-ten-commandments-in-schools_n_66773a79e4b00383ac7dd4f9
Oh, my God! Trump just heard about the 10 Commandments. But he lies all the time anyway. He bears false witness.
^^asTerisk…
Okay, if the Louisiana people and governing people want religion in this type of set up then TAX THEM like every other business entity! No free rides, right?
Didn’t Moses smash the 10 Commandments when he was enragegd to see the Children of Israel worshiping a golden calf? (Exodus 32:19)
The ironies abound.
Trump is more orange than golden, and he’s more an ass than a calf. Ofc.
Very funny, fjstats!
Didn’t he originally have 15 commandments but he broke one of the tablets?
So, Moses comes down from the mountain. He says, “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that I got him down to 10. The bad news is that adultery is still in.”
Priceless!
No, There were originally Five Commandments, but Moses ordered them early to get God’s special two for one deal.
But seriously, Moses broke the Decalog in anger and then carved the commandments on two tablets.
Moses ordered them from Temu, but when they arrived, the tablets were so small that you couldn’t read the writing.
Best idea I’ve heard for the 10 Commandments came from Bob Shepherd: post them in Hebrew.
Other idea: Post the creed of every one of the world’s religions.
WHOSE TEN COMMANDMENTS?
Protestants, Catholics, and Jewish religions each have their own version of the Ten Commandments. Whose version will be put in the public schools and in other public places?
The differences in the versions can be significant: In the Protestant version, the Protestant Second Commandment says that Catholics are being sinful by having statues of Mary and the saints in their churches — so, Catholics won’t like having the Protestant version in public schools and places, telling the world that Catholics are sinful.
And, since the Jews wrote the Old Testament, isn’t the Jewish version of the Ten Commandments the original and therefore the only correct version?