Louisiana May Have Found the Way to Put the 10 Commandments Back in Schools

 Louisiana could have found the way to get the 10 Commandments back in schools according to Scott Hogenson at Townhall.com entitled Unpacking the 10 Commandments. Hogenson points out that the 10 Commandments are the moral code for the three Abrahamic religions. But more than that, other religions like Hinduism have similar precepts. Even more, no tax money will be used in making posters for schools and other government buildings.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry is spoiling for a fight. Landry on Wednesday signed into law a bill that requires the posting of the 10 Commandments in the state’s K-12 classrooms and colleges receiving state funding. Landry, the state’s former attorney general, said when signing the bill, that he “can’t wait to be sued,” by the usual suspects, which have already launched an all-out legal assault on the new law.

Their claims are familiar to many of us. One coalition of organizations quickly announced their plans to sue the state, saying in a statement, “Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.” Meanwhile, Azhar Majeeda, the government affairs director for a group called The Center for Inquiry, argued that the law, “is meant to impose Christianity on all students in Louisiana’s public schools, even if they belong to a minority religion or no religion at all.”

Who knows what the "intentions" of the legislation really are, but would it be so bad if basic morals were taught to all students? Wouldn't it be refreshing if students as a rule addressed their elders as "sir" and "ma'am"? Wouldn't it be nice if more people thought that stealing things was wrong, murder unthinkable? Sure, the 10 Commandments are taught to all Christians, but also to Jews. And while some Muslims don't seem to have read them, they are part of Islam.

Historically, the First Amendment was never intended to create a "wall of separation" between government and the church. It was intended, as stated quite clearly in the Amendment itself to prevent the Federal government from establishing a state church and to prevent that same government from prohibiting the free exercise of that religion. If anything, the founders had in mind Biblically based religion. We know these things because that was what they said, and because the first U. S. House of Representatives was opened with a prayer to God.

Louisiana is promoting a millennia-old collection of law recognized by the 4.2 billion-plus people who practice Christianity, Islam or Judaism. That’s more than half of Earth’s population, so it’s difficult to support claims of one religion being preferred over another. But are the 10 Commandments an affront to people of other faiths? Perhaps, but probably not. Buddhism has its 10 Precepts of morality. Hinduism believes in a number of similar rules, most paralleling those revealed to Moses. Sikhs follow their own code of 10 Principle Beliefs. All told, these beliefs apply to about 78% of all the people in the world.

...snip...

While the Louisiana law requires the posting of the Commandments, it doesn’t compel taxpayers to underwrite the cost of doing so. The legislation requires that posters be paid for with private donations. Pacifists can complain about their tax dollars paying for wars but atheists can’t make the same argument about the 10 Commandments in government schools.

Gentle readers are asked to read the whole article. There is a lot unpacked they in a short article