New Louisiana law will require Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms

“I can’t wait to be sued,” Gov. Jeff Landry said

By Ashlie D. Stevens

Food Editor

Published June 19, 2024 4:44PM (EDT)

Rear view of teenage girls and boys learning in classroom (Getty Images/Maskot)
Rear view of teenage girls and boys learning in classroom (Getty Images/Maskot)

On Saturday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry attended a Republican fundraiser in Nashville where he forecasted his plans to require every public classroom in the state to display the Ten Commandments. “I can’t wait to be sued,” he said, per a report from The Tennessean

Now, according to the New York Times, Landry has made those plans a reality as he signed legislation on Wednesday that mandates the commandments be displayed in every public elementary, middle and high school — as well as public college classrooms. The law stipulates that the commandments must be “the central focus of the poster" on display, which may be no smaller than 11 by 14 inches. 

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

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Southern Poverty Law Center released a joint statement, saying the decision infringed on families’ freedom of religion. “Our public schools are not Sunday schools,” the statement said, “and students of all faiths, or no faith, should feel welcome in them.”

 


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