Pressed on Ten Commandments displays, Louisiana governor gives bad advice

Gov. Jeff Landry seems to realize that he’s created a controversy by requiring every public school classroom in the state to promote the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments. But the Louisiana Republican told reporters earlier this week, “I don’t see what the whole big fuss is about.”

As NBC News reported, the first-year governor also had some related advice for families who prefer religiously-neutral public education:

Whether the Louisiana Republican is aware of this or not, this is a familiar argument with an unfortunate history.

Before U.S. Supreme Court rulings in the middle of the 20th century protecting the separation of church and state, it was common in many parts of the country for public schools to promote religious symbols, practices and prayers. If students and their families weren’t part of the local majority on matters of faith, they heard advice similar instructions to the one Landry offered this week.

You’re part of a Jewish family in a public school that promotes Christianity? Tell your child to go wait in the hall while the rest of the class recites a Christian prayer. You’re a Catholic student in a school promoting the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments? Your parents can simply tell you to avert your eyes as the state government promotes its preferred sacred text.

The far-right governor may be confused about “the whole big fuss,” but in the United States, there’s no reason to turn back the clock to an era in which public officials intervened in children’s religious upbringing, communities fought over whose religion would be favored, and kids from minority traditions were told to tolerate being treated as second-class students.

The underlying principle couldn’t be simpler: It’s not the job of politicians in state government to endorse and promote the tenets of a preferred religion. Schools can and should remain neutral on matters of faith. Why Landry and his cohorts would want government officials to interfere in matters better left to families remains something of a mystery.

When the Republican first created this law in June, requiring Decalogue displays in all public classrooms — from kindergarten to state-funded universities — Landry declared, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original law giver, which was Moses.”

In reality, of course, if Louisiana Republicans want to respect the rule of law, they have to start with their own country’s Constitution, which includes the First Amendment, and to honor U.S. Supreme Court precedent, which GOP officials in the state have decided to ignore.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.