Ten Commandments Posters Are Required in All Public-School Classrooms in Louisiana

Louisiana has made it mandatory for a poster of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom in the state.

The Ten Commandments must now be displayed in every public school classroom, from elementary to university, according to a new law that Louisiana is the first state in the union to impose. The Republican-backed bill was signed into law by Governor Jeff Landry on Wednesday, who called the commandments “the foundational documents of our state and national government.”

Legal challenges to the law are expected from civil rights organizations claiming it infringes upon the separation of church and state guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, particularly the so-called Establishment Clause. “Congress shall not establish any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” reads this section.

Each poster must have the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” on an 11 by 14-inch (28 by 35.5-cm) display, with the commandments serving as “the central focus,” in accordance with the new state law. A four-paragraph “context statement” outlining the historical relevance of the commandments in American public education will also be included on the posters.

The state will not pay for the posters themselves, but by 2025, these will be required to be displayed in all classrooms that receive financing from the state.

Recently, similar legislation has been presented in Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah, among other states headed by Republicans. Ten Commandments displays in public spaces have been the subject of heated legal disputes, with multiple cases involving police stations, courthouses, and schools.

A comparable Kentucky law mandating the Ten Commandments to be posted in elementary and high schools was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980. The court decided that the mandate was “plainly religious in nature” and “had no secular legislative purpose” in a 5-4 ruling. The court stressed that in addition to secular precepts like forbidding murder and theft, the Ten Commandments also contain religious instructions like keeping the Sabbath and worshiping God.

It is anticipated that when Louisiana proceeds with this law, it will spark intense judicial examination and debate regarding how to strike a balance in public education between constitutional ideals and religious expression.