BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether he should temporarily block a novel Louisiana law that requires the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom by Jan. 1.
The hearing on this and other issues in a pending lawsuit against the novel law is expected to last all day. It is unclear when U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles will rule.
Opponents say the law is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state and that the display will isolate students, especially those who are not Christians. Proponents argue that the measure is not only religious in nature but also has historical significance to the foundations of U.S. law. Louisiana, a reliably Republican state located in the Bible Belt, is the only state with such a requirement.
In June, parents of Louisiana public school children from diverse religious backgrounds filed suit, arguing that the legislation violates the language of the First Amendment, which prohibits government establishment of religion and guarantees religious freedom.
Gov. Jeff Landry, a conservative Republican who supports the novel law, has said for months that he looks forward to defending the mandate in court. When asked during a press conference in August what he would say to parents who are upset about the Ten Commandments being displayed in their child’s classroom, he replied: “If these posters are up in the school and they (parents) put them like that If you find it vulgar, just tell them.” Child not to look at it.”
Across the country, there have been conservative pushes to integrate religion into education, from Florida legislation allowing school districts to employ volunteer chaplains to counsel students to Oklahoma’s top education official ordering public schools to teach the Bible Integrate lessons.
Louisiana’s novel law was touted by conservatives, including former President Donald Trump.
In June, the Republican presidential candidate posted on his social media network: “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND MANY OTHER PLACES. READ IT – HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, DO WRONG???”
Louisiana legislation, which applies to all K-12 public school and state-funded university classrooms, requires that the Ten Commandments be displayed on a poster or framed document measuring at least 28 by 36 centimeters (11 inches by 14 inches). ) must be displayed where the text is in central focus and “printed in a large, easy-to-read font.” Each poster must also be accompanied by the four-paragraph context statement.
Additionally, tens of thousands of posters will likely be needed to comply with the novel law, considering there are more than 1,300 public schools in Louisiana. Louisiana State University has nearly 1,000 classrooms on the Baton Rouge campus alone.
The mandate does not require school systems to spend public money on the posters, with Republicans saying the displays are funded by donations or the posters themselves are donated by groups or organizations. Questions still remain about how to enforce the requirement if a teacher refuses to post the Ten Commandments and what happens if there aren’t enough donations to fund the mandate.
In an agreement the court and the state reached last month, five schools specifically named in the lawsuit will not post the commandments in classrooms until Nov. 15 and will not adopt rules implementing the law until then. The deadline for compliance, January 1, 2025, remains in place for schools across the state.
