Godly provocateurs want to decorate classrooms

The courts won't save us, so maybe the kids will

Ten Commandments monument located in Goshen, Ohio. -United Church of God

It’s tempting to dismiss the recent bill signed by Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry requiring public schools to hang a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom as a form of political trolling (policy geeks can find the actual text of the bill here). After all, in normal times there is no way that such a law would be upheld in the federal courts. But given the current composition of the Supreme Court of the United States, we really don’t know what will happen.

To my agnostic mind, such a requirement for public schools is patently unconstitutional. It is not, however, a violation of the “separation of church and state” because no such language exists in the constitution. The paraphrased wording is attributed to the letters of Thomas Jefferson, who was not even a signer of the constitution because he was living abroad in 1787 as ambassador to France.

The First Amendment of the constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In other words, the federal government should not be in the business of establishing a state religion. In constitutional circles, that prohibition is called the “establishment clause.”

An April 22, 1885, cartoon from Puck magazine depicting an army of clergymen assaulting a fortress defended by newspaper editors including from Puck, while atop a hill in the background a statue labeled "Constitution" that states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" can be seen. -Wikipedia

Does a government requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom in the state run afoul of the establishment clause? The answer is obvious to me. If, through such a mandate, the state shows blatant favoritism to towards one faith, then the mandate is tantamount to the establishment of a state religion.

Predictably, supporters of the requirement say its purpose is not exclusively religious. They insist it’s also a matter of historical significance. The language of the law describes the Ten Commandments as “foundational documents of our state and national government.”

If that’s what they actually believe, then why not require the First Amendment be posted in classrooms right alongside the commandments? Covering press, speech and assembly freedoms, the First Amendment is at least as foundational as the Ten Commandments — if not more. Finally, one could argue that the commandments are relevant in a history classroom, but why would they belong in a science lab, a Spanish classroom or a phys ed gym?

The case reminds me of the situation at the Texas State Capitol. More than 20 years ago, I was in Austin on business and went for a run along the Lady Bird Lake Trail. After I was done, I took a walk along Congress Street to the Capitol grounds. After admiring the building’s gorgeous pink granite, I stumbled upon this item:

A granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol. -Houston Public Media via Texas Tribune

How could this happen? I’m originally from Texas and had never heard about this. This was 2003, so going back to my hotel and googling it in the early evening was not an option. Turns out the placement of the commandments on the Texas Capitol grounds was challenged, with a divided Supreme Court ultimately ruling 5-4 two years after my visit to Austin that the stone tablet was not unconstitutional.

There have been other Supreme Court cases involving the Ten Commandments in schools, as when the high court struck down by a margin of 5-4 a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the commandments in public school classrooms. The court ruled in 1980 during the waning days of the Carter administration that the law had “no secular legislative purpose.” Needless to say, the current court is considerably friendlier to the religious right than in the days when Warren Burger was running the show.

This is to say that, as the New York Times suggested this morning:

The legislation is part of a broader campaign by conservative Christian groups to amplify public expressions of faith, and provoke lawsuits that could reach the Supreme Court, where they expect a friendlier reception than in years past. That presumption is rooted in recent rulings, particularly one in 2022 in which the court sided with a high school football coach who argued that he had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team’s games.

This is also what happened in advance of last year’s Dobbs decision, in which the high court rolled back abortion as a constitutional right and effectively delegated the matter to the states themselves. Several states passed restrictive laws in an effort to bring abortion rights before the SCOTUS once again (e.g. Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act; Texas’ Heartbeat Law).

So the strategy is no secret. Indeed, Landry told attendees at a recent Republican fundraiser in Tennessee, “I’m going home to sign a bill that places the Ten Commandments in public classrooms. I can’t wait to be sued.”

Landry’s taunts remind us once again that elections have consequences. Nowhere is that saying more apt than in the court system. Donald Trump doesn’t give a rat’s ass about abortion rights or the establishment clause, but he knows how to get votes from people who do.

I recommend this column by David French, an evangelical Christian and former Army JAG lawyer who lives in Tennessee. Of the Lousiana governor, French wrote (free link):

But Landry’s comments didn’t stop with bravado. He also said something else interesting. “If you want to respect the rule of law,” he told the guests, “you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.” To teach respect for the rule of law, he’s defying the Supreme Court? That’s an interesting message to send to students.

And there is also this. A takedown of the new law on X (formerly Twitter) by Andrew L. Seidel, a First Amendment attorney and author of The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American. Click on the graphic to read the whole thing.

Here is the money quote from Lousiana State Rep. Dodie Horton, who sponsored the bill.

I’m not concerned with an atheist. I’m not concerned with a Muslim. I’m concerned with our children looking and seeing what God’s law is.

Intent is relevant here. Maybe the students will rebel. It wouldn’t be the first time younger generations have saved us from bad policy.