Louisiana to make all state classrooms display the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments are to be displayed in all classrooms in Louisiana after a controversial order was signed into law on Wednesday.

The Republican-backed rule, which applies to all state schools and universities, was labelled “blatantly unconstitutional” by civil liberties groups who claim it breaches the principle of separating church and state.

Critics have vowed to mount a legal challenge, and some believe the move may get a sympathetic hearing from the Supreme Court, which has become more conservative since Donald Trump and more inclined to rule on the side of religious rights in recent years.

Jeff Landry, Louisiana’s Republican governor who signed the measure into law, said “I can’t wait to be sued” last week, according to The Tennessean.

By 2025, every Louisiana classroom will be required to display a poster or framed document, measuring at least 11 by 14 inches, with the commandments in a “large, easily readable font”.

Mr Landry argued on Wednesday that the Ten Commandments – which include injunctions against murdering, stealing and adultery – provided valuable life lessons.

“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,” he said.

In Stone v Graham (1980), the Supreme Court struck down a similar move in Kentucky, ruling that the Ten Commandments were “plainly religious in nature”.

The instructions are not confined to secular matters but also those such as worshipping God and observing the Sabbath, it noted.

Lawrence Moore, a law professor at New Orleans’ Loyola University who is also a Catholic priest, suggested Mr Landry was attempting to overturn the precedent set by the Stone case but also had a “much broader” objective.

“I think the goal is… the assertion that we are a Christian nation,” he told The Telegraph, adding that if Louisiana’s law is upheld it could reopen cases about prayer and scriptural readings in state schools that were settled decades ago.

Christian conservative groups have recently attempted to push back on limits to public expressions of faith in the Supreme Court, which has proved more sympathetic to the issue than in the past.

“I think traditionally the Supreme Court would have decided against the posting of the Ten Commandments,” Father Moore said. “But I can’t predict where the Court is now.”

However, he suggested the measure might prove a “bridge too far” for the more centrist justices – John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kauvanaugh – who are “much more attuned to precedent”.

Louisiana’s push also reflects a broad scepticism from conservatives about Left-wing ideologies allegedly being put forward in schools.

Left-wing ideologies

Dodie Horton, a Louisiana state representative, said “given all the junk our children are exposed to in classrooms today, it is imperative that we put the Ten Commandments back in a prominent position.”

It may spur on other Republican-led states that have proposed the measure, including Texas, Utah and Oklahoma, to follow suit.

Critics claim the law breaches the Constitution’s First Amendment that decrees a separation of church and state. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” it reads.

Several organisations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, pledged to immediately challenge the legislation in the courts and accused the state of trampling on religious rights.

“The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government,” the groups said in a joint statement.

“Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.

“Louisiana’s communities and public schools are religiously diverse, yet [the measure] would require school officials to promote specific religious beliefs to which people of many faiths, and those of no faith, do not subscribe.”

They noted that the language of the Commandments differs in various religious denominations, accusing lawmakers of pushing a “state-sanctioned version of scripture”.