In an attempt to purge America’s public schools of any trace of belief in the supernatural, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have sued, “on behalf” of a group of parents and students, the state of Louisiana. Their goal: to ban the state from displaying the Ten Commandments in its public schools. This is an ill-conceived endeavor with a silver lining: If they lose, we may all benefit from having clarifying case law on the books. With the case now before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, there is a promising opportunity to restore religion to its rightful and historic significance in American public life.
We submitted a “friend of the court” brief in support of Louisiana, explaining that exposing young learners to the Ten Commandments is a far cry from government establishment of religion. On the contrary, it is entirely in accordance with the wishes of America’s founders, individuals of notably diverse religious convictions. We add that banning the display of the Commandments because of their religious origin signifies a hostility to religion and offends the general nondiscrimination principles of the Constitution.
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