In June 2024. Louisiana Governor, Jeff Landry, signed a bill that requires the 10 Commandments, along with other historical documents, be displayed in all state funded K-12 and university classrooms by 2025. While this seems like a harmless thing and a way to strengthen or bring back the "moral fabric" of America, I stand in opposition to this law and the similar bills that are floating around several states.
First - I have a hard time claiming the Protestant, Christian bible as a historical document. While some of the stories contained in the bible can be found in other accounts, that are in fact historical documents, the bible as a whole is not historical. As we know the Protestant, Christian bible - it is not in chronical order. There are multiple accounts of several stories within the bible. And from what scholars have found, the authors of the Protestant, Christian bible never claimed to be documenting history. They are sharing their experiences and trying to answer questions of the community the author is a part of. The authors are sharing their prayers, poetry, songs, and experiences. This is not history.
You will notice that I am using the phrase "Protestant, Christian bible." I'm doing that because I have to ask - who's bible are we reading so we know which version of the 10 Commandments to post. Which translation are we to use? There are differences between Protestant and Catholic bibles - look at how many books are included. And Christian bibles have taken a text from another faith tradition and reconfigured it. Depending on the translation used, we have different words used in the 10 Commandments. Do all publicly funded schools in Louisiana have to use the same version of the 10 Commandments? Do we use age-appropriate language for kindergartens that would be different from what is used in university classrooms? I have more questions along this line, but I'll end with do we have to have to pay licensing fees for certain translations or are you just going to go with the KJV because it's open source, therefore free, even though it's really not a good translation?
Okay, I lied. One more question: are public schools going to teach the real history of the translations of the Bible? Because that's a whole seminary class right there.
But here's my biggest concern - why are the Christian 10 Commandments considered a historical document but not the 5 Pillars of Islam or the 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism or the other guiding principles found in every world religion? Could this be Christian Nationalism seeping into our schools? (YES!!!) Will posters of these principles, that promote a "moral fabric" be allowed to be posted, or will they be banned, ripped down, defaced, burned like has happened repeatedly in so many places? As much as Americans want to claim that the US is a Christian nation, we do not have a national religion. Instead, we have the freedom of religion and the separation of Church and State. Remember that "In God We Trust" was added to US currency between 1957-1966. "Under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14, 1954.
America has a really good history of saying we welcome all, as long as people get in line with what a certain group wants. Conform instead of sharing ideas and traditions. We really want to indoctrinate and limit options so certain groups can feel like they have some sort of control. So instead of having, what I think would be valuable learning opportunities, to learn about other religions and traditions, we push for only what we want. Many people have no problem making Winter Programs in schools Christian focused but the moment the idea to teach children a song about Kwanza, Hannukah or the many other winter holidays that happen around December 25 comes up, they lose their minds and say it's indoctrination. Funny how it doesn't seem to be indoctrination when it goes the other way. Christianity good. Everything else is bad. You can find the school board meetings on YouTube, showing the line of irate parents and community members demanding a ban on non-Christmas music.
As a pastor, do I like to sing my Christian Christmas music? Yup I do. I have my favorites and my least favorites. But I also enjoy learning other traditions' music, both because I like to sing and appreciate music and because I like celebrating with others on their faith journeys. And if we are honest, it is my job and the Church's job to teach the Christian faith in church. I teach my tradition at my church. I don't interfere with faith education in other places, unless it is causing harm. Let churches teach their faith on their own time. Let public schools teach their curriculum without the bias of one faith tradition.
And to be honest, I don't think a poster in classrooms is going to fix the "moral fabric" of society. I think we need a lot more than some poster. I think we need to be teaching the core values of just about every faith tradition I've studied: be a decent human being. Admit when you make mistakes, be kind and loving, and do the best you can, for as long as you can, wherever you are. So, I make a motion that we take the public funds going to make these 10 Commandment posters (and I really hope the Louisiana lawmakers aren't going to expect teachers to pay for these posters out of their own pockets) and use them to pay off school lunch debt instead. I think that's a much better understanding of faith and use of tax money.
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