Several Louisiana families, backed by civil rights groups, have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block a new state law that would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.
of A lawsuit was filed On Monday, a federal district court in Baton Rouge is expected to kick off an epic legal battle that could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court – one eagerly anticipated by Christian nationalists who hope to destroy the country’s long-standing separation of church and state.
The new law, HB71, was signed into law last week by Louisiana’s far-right governor, Jeff Landry, making the state the first in the nation to mandate that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms. The law states that the Ten Commandments must be displayed in a “large, legible font” and within a frame that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches, as the law states.
The plaintiffs in Monday’s lawsuit include rabbis and pastors, who argue that the law is patently unconstitutional. They argue that it violates both binding Supreme Court precedent that has been in effect for nearly half a century and the Establishment Clause and Religious Freedom Clauses of the First Amendment.
“It sends a harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not obey the Ten Commandments do not belong in the school community,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges that a central pillar of the new law — the claim that there is a long tradition linking American public education to the Ten Commandments — is based on fabrication. HB 71 quotes fourth president James Madison: “We stake the whole future of our new nation on the ability of each of us to govern ourselves in accordance with the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
The quote is fictitious and does not appear anywhere in Madison’s writings or speeches, and appears to have been taken from a conspiracy theory popularized by the late right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
One of the plaintiffs, the Rev. Jeff Sims, told reporters on Monday that HB 71 “not only violates but tramples on the religious freedom of mine and my children.” Sims, a Presbyterian minister and father of three children who attend Louisiana public schools, added that “separation of church and state means families have the right to decide if, when and how to teach their children religious books and texts.”
Another plaintiff, Joshua Harlands, a Jewish father of two children in public school, said the Ten Commandments promoted in the new law “are not the commandments that I, or many Jews, know. For example, in his Jewish tradition, God’s name is spelled Gd, but in the bill it is spelled in full as God.”
“This exhibit misrepresents the importance of the Ten Commandments in Judaism and sends a disturbing message to students, including my children, that they may be inferior in the eyes of their government,” Harlands said.
The third plaintiff, the Rev. Darcy Rourke, a Unitarian Universalist pastor, said he joined the lawsuit because “we believe it is the right of children to decide which faith tradition, if any, they want to follow.”
The new law would affect 680,000 students in more than 1,300 public schools across Louisiana. Plaintiffs, backed by a coalition of civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are hoping a federal court will issue an injunction blocking the mandate immediately.
A full hearing will then be held this summer in which the plaintiffs will seek a permanent injunction.
“Christian nationalism is gaining momentum across our country,” warned Rachel Lezer, president of the American Coalition for Separation of Church and State, which is supporting the lawsuit. She said politicians across the country are “seeking to undermine the principle of religious freedom that is at the heart of the founding of this country — that everyone should have the right to live freely as they please.”
