Trump champions Ten Commandments display in schools

Gitanjali Poonia
·2 min read
8
A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway at the Georgia State Capitol Building Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Atlanta. Louisiana has become the first state in the country to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public schools.
A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway at the Georgia State Capitol Building Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Atlanta. Louisiana has become the first state in the country to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public schools. | John Bazemore

Speaking to a crowd of evangelical Christians in Washington, D.C., former President Donald Trump reminded conservatives to “get out and vote.”

He also endorsed a policy that would require schools to display the Ten Commandments at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference over the weekend.

“Has anyone read the ‘Thou shalt not steal’? I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It’s just incredible,” Trump said, according to The Associated Press. “They don’t want it to go up. It’s a crazy world.”

Late last Thursday, Trump said in a post on his social media network Truth Social, “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???”

“THIS MAY BE, IN FACT, THE FIRST MAJOR STEP IN THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION, WHICH IS DESPERATELY NEEDED, IN OUR COUNTRY. BRING BACK TTC!!! MAGA2024,” Trump continued.

Louisiana lawmakers passed a new law, signed Wednesday, that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed on a poster-sized placard in “large, easily readable font” in the state’s public elementary, secondary and postsecondary schools by Jan. 1, 2025. The text will be paired with “a context statement” that describes the prominence of the Ten Commandments.

After the law was finalized, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation in a joint statement said they are suing the state over a “blatantly unconstitutional” law that attempts to merge functions of church and state.

“The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government,” the statement said. “Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”

“Even among those who may believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the particular text that they adhere to can differ by religious denomination or tradition. The government should not be taking sides in this theological debate, and it certainly should not be coercing students to submit day in and day out to unavoidable promotions of religious doctrine,” it added.

Utah came close to requiring schools to post the Ten Commandments, but the final bill was amended to put the religious text and the Magna Carta, a royal charter of rights, on a list of optional resources teachers can include in their curricula.