US State Mandates Ten Commandments in Public School Classrooms

Governor Jeff Landry

US state mandates that the Ten Commandments be shown in classrooms in public schools.

Louisiana mandates Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, sparking church-state debate; ACLU vows to sue, citing First Amendment violations.

A bill mandating the Ten Commandments to be exhibited in every public school classroom in the conservative US state of Louisiana was signed by Governor Jeff Landry.

The measure that was signed on Wednesday has sparked heated discussions over the separation of church and state once again.

The first of its type in the country, the law requires the biblical text to be displayed in all public education classes from kindergarten through state-funded colleges beginning in 2025.

At the signing ceremony for the bill, the Republican governor of the southern state, Jeff Landry, stated, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original law given which was Moses.”

“And shall be printed in a large, easily readable font,” the bill's language states, mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed as a poster or framed document.

In response to the legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) declared that it will file a lawsuit.

The organization released a statement saying that the law is obviously illegal and undermines the separation of church and state.

The US Constitution's First Amendment prohibits the creation of a national religion and the favoring of one religion over another.

Though other measures have been developed and presented in other southern states within the US "Bible Belt," HB 71 is the first of its kind to be signed into law.