BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Louisiana has become the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public classrooms. Already, a lawsuit has been filed against the new law.

Louisiana is the only state to pass a law requiring a version of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public classroom. Other states have attempted such bills, but they did not make it through the legislative process.

“It’s favoring a certain religion or for a certain religious ideology,” said ACLU Louisiana Executive Director Alanah Odoms.

The ACLU, ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation are suing the state, stating it is a violation of the First Amendment by mandating a particular religious document be in every class from preschool through university.

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“We see that it literally flies in the face of those very basic founding principles. Of course, it is contradictory to the idea of freedom of religion because we have the Ten Commandments, which are a specific expression of Christianity,” Odoms said.

The state representative who carried the bill claimed the Ten Commandments are a ‘historical document’ that all of the nation’s laws are based on.

“I beg to differ that this is just Christian, but I have no, no qualms if it was. This is, this is not preaching a Christian religion. It’s not preaching any religion. It’s teaching a moral code,” said state Rep. Dodie Horton in an April hearing for the bill.

She also pointed to the case of the football coach in Washington where The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, he could pray on the field after the games. Odoms with the ACLU counters that there is a distinct difference.

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“The court found one, and very importantly, that the students in that situation were not a captive audience because it was after the game and the students could either participate or not participate. And it was an invitation. So, it wasn’t something that was required,” Odoms said.

Attorney General Liz Murrill said she is looking forward to defending the law and claims the Ten Commandments are simple common sense. A sentiment that Sen. Bill Cassidy shares with her.

Cassidy said he does not believe the law violates the Establishment Clause, which separates church and state.

“All of these things would be so nice if reinforced. Why don’t we?” Cassidy said.

Odoms said this law is a chance for groups of conservatives to roll back decades of legal precedence to allow more religious authority in the nation’s laws.

“And I think they believe, perhaps in the same way that this Supreme Court overturned the 50-year precedent in Roe v. Wade, that they may have the opportunity to overturn the 40-year precedent in the Stone v. Graham case,” Odoms said.

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In the 1980 case, the court said the Ten Commandments “had no secular legislative purpose” and was “plainly religious in nature”.

In an interview with CNN, state Rep. Lauren Ventrella was asked what a child should do when they come from a family that does not believe in the Ten Commandments and has to see the posters in class. The representative responded by saying, “don’t look at it”.

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