Louisiana's brazen mandate putting the Ten Commandments in every single classroom

Theocracy is on the rise as states push the Christian nationalist Supreme Court to overturn precedent

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham that putting a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

A concerned parent, Sydell Stone, joined by other parents, challenged in court a Kentucky state law that required posting a copy of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. And the U.S. Supreme Court said no.

That has been the precedent for 40 years, knocking down any attempts since. The decision relied on another precedent from 1971, Lemon v. Kurtzman, in which the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the government to pay the salaries of teachers in private religious schools even if they were using public textbooks, as two state laws had mandated.

The court applied what it called the Lemon test, which included showing that a government action such as this had to have a “secular, legislative purpose.”

Now the governor of Louisiana, who this week signed a bill into law passed by the Christian nationalist-dominated legislature mandating the Ten Commandments in every classroom, says there is in fact a secular legislative purpose to doing so.

“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,” Governor Jeff Landry outlandishly claimed when he signed into law a statute that requires poster-sized displays of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all classrooms, from kindergarten right up through state-funded universities.

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He and proponents argue that the Ten Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government,” according to the Associated Press, which is completely antithetical to U.S. history.

Landry said he “can’t wait to be sued.” He’s clearly confident he’ll win right up to the Supreme Court. Even many religious leaders in Louisiana opposed the bill:

More than 100 Christian pastors and churchgoers in Louisiana signing a petition last month urging Landry to veto the bill. They argued that families and faith groups should control religious education — not the government. The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, which advocates for the separation of church and state, also called on Landry to veto the legislation, arguing that it “disrespects religious diversity.”

That’s nice, but it means nothing to Christian theocrats who are emboldened by the current Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade and other major precedents.

Settled law means little to this Supreme Court. It should be noted that in the Kentucky case in 1980, the court was split, ruling in a 5-4 decision. And that was a very different court than what we have today, with three Christian nationalists installed on the court by Donald Trump, joining the extremists already there, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

The theocrats in the states have been encouraged not just from Roe v. Wade’s fall, but other similar cases:

State Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, sponsored the legislation. She argued the law is constitutional, pointing to a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a public school football coach’s right to pray on the field.

She added that her bill is not meant to indoctrinate children, but to give them “guidelines.”

“It doesn't preach a certain religion, but it does teach a standard,” she said, adding that the Ten Commandments offer a moral code that God “holds us accountable to live by.”

That, of course, is hogwash, and the ACLU and other groups plan to file a lawsuit, arguing that the court’s ruling in the past makes this settled law. But how confident are any of you that the court won’t overturn precedent in this case since it has had no problem doing that over and over again?

A similar bill was pushed in Texas recently but failed as the legislative session ended. But you can be sure it will be back, as will other bills in other states.

American Christian nationalists are feeling the wind at their backs—in the courts, and with Trump pushing their agenda—and they are intent on theocracy. Another reminder of why this upcoming election is so damned important.