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Madeleine Parrish The Arizona Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would allow the Ten Commandments to be posted and read aloud in public school classrooms. Senate Bill 1151, sponsored by Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, would add the Ten Commandments to a list of materials that can be posted or read in Arizona’s public schools. The existing list includes U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the Declaration of Independence, the national anthem, the national motto “In God We Trust,” and the Pledge of Allegiance, among other materials related to U.S. “history and heritage.” The vote was 16-12, with all — and only — Republicans voting in favor. "The progressive slide down in our country right now is because we have taken the Ten Commandments away from our schools," Kern said during a Feb. 22 Senate floor session. The Ten Commandments are fundamental religious tenets in Christianity and Judaism that include edicts not to murder, steal or commit adultery, as well as to have no other gods and to keep the Sabbath holy. Anne Laurie Gaylor, the co-founder of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a national organization that advocates for the separation of church and state, described Kern’s bill and similar bills […]