OAN’s Abril Elfi
5:00 PM – Monday, June 24, 2024
Civil liberties groups have filed a lawsuit against Louisiana’s new law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
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On Monday, parents of Louisiana public school children, represented by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, filed a lawsuit to block the new law.
Last week, Governor Jeff Landry (R-La.) signed a new law requiring all public K–12 classrooms and state-funded universities to display the Ten Commandments.
Opponents claim that the display will alienate students, particularly those who are not Christians, and that the law violates the separation of church and state.
The measure’s supporters asserted that it has historical significance in addition to being purely religious. The Ten Commandments are described as “foundational documents of our state and national government” in legalese.
The lawsuit is seeking a court declaration that the new law violates First Amendment clauses forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty.
“The state’s main interest in passing H.B. 71 was to impose religious beliefs on public-school children, regardless of the harm to students and families,” the lawsuit says. “The law’s primary sponsor and author, Representative Dodie Horton, proclaimed during debate over the bill that it seeks to have a display of God’s law in the classroom for children to see what He says is right and what He says is wrong.’”
Members of the state education board, several local school boards, and the state superintendent of education, Cade Brumley, are among the defendants.
By the beginning of 2025, the posters in Louisiana will be in classrooms along with a four-paragraph “context statement” outlining how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of public education for almost three centuries.” The law prohibits using state funds for the mandate’s implementation. Donations would cover the cost of the posters.
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