Louisiana classrooms now required by law to display the Ten Commandments

[driewerf]

Yeah, that’s not constitutional.

If a Blue state mandated Islamic principles on every classroom wall then there would be uproar.

And that uproar would be well justified.

 

[Hammster]

Unconstitutional, pathetic and childish.

None of the above.

 

[Hammster]

Yeah, that’s not constitutional.

If a Blue state mandated Islamic principles on every classroom wall then there would be uproar.

Of course. Allah isn’t real.

 

[driewerf]

None of the above.

All of the above.

 

[Hammster]

All of the above.

None of the above.

 

[MForbes]

Interesting.....because according to the bible, the Israelites were not commanded to display the ten commandments, and God told Moses to put them in the ark of the covenant.

 

[Zaha Torte]

LINK

House Bill 71, approved by state lawmakers last month, mandates that a poster-size display of the Ten Commandments with “large, easily readable font” be in every classroom at schools that receive state funding, from kindergarten through the university level.

The legislation specifies the exact language that must be printed on the classroom displays and outlines that the text of the Ten Commandments must be the central focus of the poster or framed document.

In a joint statement prior to the governor’s approval of the measure, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation said that the bill was “unconstitutional” and that “many faith-based and civil-rights organizations oppose this measure because it violates students’ and families’ fundamental right to religious freedom.”

From the Bill:

The Ten Commandments
I AM the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."

I find this to be the same as displaying Pride or BLM flags in the classroom - so I don't agree with it.

 

[BCP1928]

Of course. Allah isn’t real.

Muslims embrace to Old Testament and so have their own version of the 10 commandments. You could post them on a round-robin basis. One month the Protestant version, then the Jewish, then the RC, then the Eastern Orthodox, then the Muslim etc. after all, freedom of religion doesn't depend on whether other people think the God being worshipped is real.

 

[driewerf]

None of the above.

Very well. Let us start with the easiest one: show me that this law is constitutional.

 

[Hammster]

Very well. Let us start with the easiest one: show me that this law is constitutional.

Well, there’s nothing in the Constitution that prohibits it.

 

[driewerf]

Well, there’s nothing in the Constitution that prohibits it.

The first ammendment does.

 

[BCP1928]

Placing religious principles in schools seems like a swell idea if you are a Christian while Christianity is the dominant religion in the country. If that ever changes in this country and Christianity becomes a minority religion, we may wish we adhered to separation of church and state. Louisiana is traveling down a slippery slope away from an important founding principle of our country. Someday we may regret it.

Conservative Fundamentalist Christianity has already become a minority religion. That's why they have to use the Ten Commandments as a gang tag.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Well, there’s nothing in the Constitution that prohibits it.

Sure there is. It's a matter of settled law. (<--- mild black humor)

Stone v. Graham​

Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980), was a court case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a Kentucky statute was unconstitutional and in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, because it lacked a nonreligious, legislative purpose. The statute required the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public classroom in the state. The copies of the Ten Commandments were purchased with private funding, but the Court ruled that because they were being placed in public classrooms they were in violation of the First Amendment.

 

[Sunflower39]

I live in the UK, and my little boy attends a secular school where he learns about Jesus, the Bible, and visits our local church for important events like Easter. They also celebrate Christmas with a traditional nativity play, which I appreciate. I think it’s disheartening that schools are choosing cancel these activities. Whether someone is religious or not, they are important aspects of our cultural heritage.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I live in the UK, and my little boy attends a secular school where he learns about Jesus, the Bible.... Whether someone is religious or not, they are important aspects of our cultural heritage.

Nobody objects to secular teaching about religion in appropriate parts of the school curriculum in the US.

 

[AlexB23]

Which means it is time for malicious compliance. Hang the poster behind a filing cabinet? Next to quotes from various supreme court cases showing it to be illegal? Put it as one among many in a group of posters with random mythology? The options to make it actually educational seem abundant.

Agreed. As a Christian myself, I am totally against hanging the 10 commandments in schools, and if I was a teacher, I would hang it by a poster that says keep church separate from state.

 

[Sunflower39]

Nobody objects to secular teaching about religion in appropriate parts of the school curriculum in the US.

From what I’ve read, many Christian-related activities are being cancelled in US schools, such as singing Christmas carols and renaming Christmas as “winter festival.” It’s absurd.

 

[Hammster]

The first ammendment does.

Mmmm…no.

 

[Hammster]

Sure there is. It's a matter of settled law. (<--- mild black humor)

Stone v. Graham​

Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980), was a court case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a Kentucky statute was unconstitutional and in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, because it lacked a nonreligious, legislative purpose. The statute required the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public classroom in the state. The copies of the Ten Commandments were purchased with private funding, but the Court ruled that because they were being placed in public classrooms they were in violation of the First Amendment.

And we know that the SC doesn’t always get it right. The amendment is clear. When it says Congress, it means the US Congress.

 

[PloverWing]

Which means it is time for malicious compliance.
...
Next to quotes from various supreme court cases showing it to be illegal?

I really like this option. For students in the older grades (middle school and high school, I'll say), take an hour or two of class time and have a robust discussion of why displaying a passage from the Jewish/Christian Scriptures could be a good idea, why it could be a problem, what establishment of religion means, why the US chose not to have an established religion, and what the relevant Supreme Court cases are. I could see some genuine education happening there.