Ten Commandments in Classrooms of Louisiana

ten commandments in classrooms

In Louisiana, the United States, the issue of the 10 commandments left to mankind by Jesus has become a hot topic of debate for several days.

 “You will have no other gods before me. » This is what will be in the classrooms of Louisiana, in the United States, after the governor of this conservative state signed a law requiring the display “Ten Commandments” in classrooms this Wednesday, June 19 .

If he takes nothing from the law given to Moses, Jesus brings it together into two "commandments", each as important as the other: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your spirit (…)" ; and the second, which is similar to it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37-40). Looking more closely at the Ten Commandments, also described as the "ten words" entrusted by God to Moses, we can notice that the first three precepts describe the way in which the believer can relate to God. The other seven regulate relationships between men.

The Republican governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, has promulgated a bill which provides to display “Ten Commandments” in classrooms in all public schools - from kindergarten to universities - financed by the state, starting in 2025.

Are the Ten Commandments still relevant today?

“Because if we want to respect the rule of law, then we must start from the original law, that of Moses,” he said during a signing ceremony. During the applause, an “amen” was heard, reports USA Today. The law provides that the “Ten Commandments” be displayed on posters or in a sufficiently “large frame and with a font adapted to be readable”.

First Amendment to the Constitution

ACLU, the large American organization for the defense of freedom, immediately indicated that it would take the matter to court. “The law violates the separation of church and state and is clearly unconstitutional,” she said in a statement. The law signed by the governor specifies that the posters will be paid for through donations, and not with state funds, adds the Associated Press agency.

Other conservative states of the southern United States have attempted to adopt similar measures, but to display “Ten Commandments” in classrooms is the first time a state has written it into a law. This is particularly the case of Kentucky, whose law was revoked by the Supreme Court in 1980. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the establishment of a national religion or the preference of one religion over another. other.

Louisiana is in any case plunging a little further into a conservative drift, having already drastically limited access to abortion and abortion pills since the Supreme Court canceled the federal guarantee of abortion in the summer of 2022.