I return to this topic because of the recent U.S. 5th Circuit of Appeal decision in the Louisiana case involving the Ten Commandments. In short, the ruling lifts a lower court injunction and allows Louisiana to mandate that all public schools display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
Without any specific understanding of what such displays might look like, these appellate judges stated they were not willing to rule based on speculation. “It would oblige us to hypothesize an open-ended range of possible classroom displays (of the Commandments) and then assess each under a context-sensitive standard that depends on facts not yet developed and, indeed, not yet knowable. That exercise exceeds the judicial function. Guessing.”
And, while the ruling stops short of declaring Louisiana’s law constitutional, it is nevertheless encouraging and hopeful. Louisiana Attorney General, Liz Murrill, has stated that “don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial.”
The Ten Commandments provide the general foundation for American civil and criminal law and possess value and merit completely aside from any religious connotation. Our young people are trying to survive the cultural cesspool that modern American society has become and can only benefit from being reminded of America’s history and founding principles of public morality, faith, civic virtue, respect for lawful and moral authority, and the guidance and leadership of parents.
Further, all that our Framers intended by the Establishment Clause was that there be no official federal, national religion of the kind the Pilgrims fled when they settled in America. That is all. The Framers never intended for there to exist this outright hostility to all notions of religion and faith in public life. However, that’s what we have.
Thomas Jefferson absolutely favored free exercise of religion and cited as one of his proudest accomplishments the religious freedom law he wrote for his native state of Virginia. Jefferson opposed a mandated state religion. Beyond that, he supported the broadest definition of religious liberty possible.
In fact, Jefferson’s own belief in the vital principle of religion and morality was much further developed and advocated for by George Washington and John Adams, who were both true believers. Washington stated that: “reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” He believed that religion and morality are “indispensable supports” for political prosperity and the duties of citizens. Adams believed that “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Back to the Louisiana law.
It should be unnecessary but perhaps the best way to avoid having the law struck down is by including along with the Commandments, other historical displays such as the Declaration of Independence, the Mayflower Compact, and the Northwest Ordinance. By surrounding the Ten Commandments display with other historical displays, it would be imbued with academic, educational, and historical value outside of any religious context.
I note that the current U.S. Supreme Court has been more accommodating of free exercise of religion, including the case of Kennedy v. Bremerton, the “praying football coach” who was fired from his job at a public high school after he briefly knelt after games to offer a prayer of thanks. The Court ruled in his favor, finding that the coach had never attempted to force his players to join him, or based playing time upon player participation in the prayer. Rather, in firing the coach the school district had unconstitutionally punished him “for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance.”
The Supreme Court has adopted a new legal standard and held that the Establishment Clause “must be interpreted by ‘reference to historical practices and understandings.’ I much prefer the new standard because America has many historical practices involving faith and religion in the public square as well as the understanding that such practices are based not only on faith and religion but on our nation’s culture, history, and tradition.
Even if this Louisiana law is ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court—and I don’t think it will be—it nonetheless has great symbolic value in having existed in the first place. Essentially, the law—however long it may last—sends an unmistakable message about the values of Louisiana and what we think is important to emphasize in public education.
America’s Founders knew that freedom of religion is essential to self-government. This ruling is merely a reflection of that.
Shreveport attorney, Royal Alexander, worked in D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 8 years for two different Members of Congress from Louisiana.