By Tranée McDonald
On January 1st, a controversial law in Louisiana, House Bill 71, was scheduled to go into effect, mandating that public schools across the state post the Ten Commandments in every classroom. While this law reflects a strong push to advance Christian nationalism into public education, a federal judge thankfully blocked it before it could take effect. In addition, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the request to lift the injunction, meaning the law remains blocked while it faces ongoing legal challenges.
Interfaith Alliance has a long history of opposing the misuse of the Ten Commandments by the government. We believe students in our public schools thrive when the government honors their religious freedom.
We have joined an important new amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs challenging the Louisiana law. It was filed on Monday with the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The brief was organized by the National Council of Jewish Women, and other signatories include Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc., Hindus for Human Rights, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Jewish Women International, Keshet, Men of Reform Judaism, Muslims for Progressive Values, Rabbinical Assembly, Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, The Sikh Coalition, Society for Humanistic Judaism, Women’s Rabbinic Network, T’ruah, Union for Reform Judaism, Women of Reform Judaism, and Zionness.
The brief argues that House Bill 71 violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. “The Founding Fathers envisioned the Establishment Clause as a bulwark against religious favoritism, including the protection for adherents of minority religions (as well as non-believers)from pressures to conform to the majority faith,” we argue in the brief. “Those pressures, and related persecution, had plagued many European nations at the time.”
Here’s more from the summary of the brief argument:
“Although the Ten Commandments have historical significance, they are, at heart, a religious text with different meanings, interpretations, and significance across different faiths, including within and among faiths within the Jewish and Christian traditions. Differences among religious faiths in how the Commandments are worded, and which text is included, represent meaningful and important elements of the religious beliefs of several faiths. H.B. 71, however, would privilege the language for the Ten Commandments observed by some Protestant Christians, which is not shared within Jewish or even certain other Christian denominations.
More broadly, whether students subscribe to a faith that observes some version of the Ten Commandments or not, centering the text as an object of veneration—as H.B. 71 would do—would pressure students from faiths other than the majority Protestant Christian religion into conforming to the beliefs of the majority faith, impeding parents’ interest in directing the religious upbringing of their children, and running counter to the Establishment Clause’s text and historic intent.”
The Establishment Clause is one of the most important protections in the Constitution. It guarantees that government institutions, whether at the federal, state, or local level, cannot favor one religion over another. In the context of public schools, students should not be subjected to religious symbols or teachings that could be seen as endorsing a particular faith. Public schools are meant to serve as neutral spaces for all children, regardless of their religious background. When we allow the government to impose one set of religious beliefs in these spaces, we undermine the very purpose of religious freedom: the right for individuals to practice their faith freely, without coercion or interference from the state.
This is not just a legal issue. It’s a moral one. We are seeing a rising tide of attempts to undermine the pluralistic nature of our society, where people from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds coexist and are free to practice their beliefs. Instead, extremist groups are pushing an agenda that seeks to impose their values on the entire population, using the classroom as their battleground. These efforts have real consequences for our children.
These political and religious power plays affect the most vulnerable members of our society. Children should feel safe and welcome in school, regardless of their faith or lack thereof. They should not be subjected to religious indoctrination or have to question whether they belong in a space that, by its very nature, should be inclusive and neutral.
As we continue to fight this law in the courts, we also witness a growing need to stand up for the principle of religious freedom that is fundamental to our democracy. The Establishment Clause was written to protect us from being forced to live according to someone else’s religious values. It was meant to ensure that our children can go to school without fear of being coerced into adopting someone else’s faith or being made to feel less-than because their beliefs differ. The future of our country depends on our ability to hold onto these protections, to stand firm in the face of those who seek to undermine them and to ensure that our schools remain a place where children are free to be themselves, no matter their background.
Tranée McDonald is the Policy & Advocacy Associate at Interfaith Alliance.