Do the Ten Commandments have a valid place in U.S. classrooms? Louisiana’s Legislature and governor insist the answer is “yes.” But on Nov. 12, 2024, a federal judge said “no.” U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles blocked the state’s controversial House Bill 71 , which Gov. Jeff Landry had signed into law on June 19, 2024. The measure would have required all schools that receive public funding to post a specific version of the commandments, similar to the King James translation of the Bible used in many, but not all, Protestant churches. It is not the same version used by Catholics or Jews. Officials were also supposed to post a context statement highlighting the role of the Ten Commandments in American history and could display the Pilgrims’ Mayflower Compact , the Declaration of Independence and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 , a federal enactment to settle the frontier – and the earliest congressional document encouraging the creation of schools. The law’s defenders argued that its purpose was not only religious, but historical . Judge deGravelles, though, firmly rejected that argument, striking down HB 71 as “unconstitutional on its face and in all applications.” The law had an “overtly religious” […]

By : Markus McDowell