The Tulane Hullabaloo: “On June 19, 2024, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill making Louisiana the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public classrooms, which will be enforced starting Jan. 1, 2025. The bill states that there must be a four-paragraph “context statement,” which states, among other things, that the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
This claim misrepresents the history of religious freedom, which is a cornerstone of the United States Constitution and the many Supreme Court decisions regarding the place of religion in government-funded public schools. In keeping with the original values of this country and the many precedents set since then, the Ten Commandments have no place in public school classrooms. …
Instilling ethical and moral values in our students and maintaining a separation of church and state are not mutually exclusive. Both have been done in conjunction for nearly 200 years since Massachusetts passed the U.S.’s first compulsory education law in 1852. The Supreme Court asserts repeatedly that government-funded public schools cannot endorse any particular religion or force religious practices on students.
In the landmark case Engel v. Vitale,1962, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of New York was violating the Constitution by requiring public school teachers to start the day with a prayer composed by the state legislature addressed to “Almighty God.” Although students could choose not to participate in the prayer, it was still found to be a violation of students’ rights. This ruling is used as a precedent for other cases involving religion in public schools.”