Arkansas Schools Blocked From Displaying Ten Commandments In Classrooms

You know, for a group of people who love to tout how much they love the Founding Fathers, the Republican party sure loves ignoring the separation of church and state. A federal judge issued a ruling on Monday blocking several Arkansas schools from displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms. 

According to CNN, U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks’ ruling is limited to the four districts where the parents who filed the case reside. The parents argued that the displays violated their constitutional rights and forced students to observe a religion favored by the state. “Why would Arkansas pass an obviously unconstitutional law?” Brooks’ ruling read. “Most likely because the state is part of a coordinated strategy among several states to inject Christian religious doctrine into public-school classrooms.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law earlier this year mandating that public schools display the Ten Commandments. The law went into effect this week as Arkansas students prepare to return to school. While Brooks’ ruling blocked the law from being enforced in four sizable districts, the displays will still be up in Arkansas’s other 233 school districts. 

Can’t even front; I didn’t even think Arkansas was big enough to have that many school districts.

“The court saw through this attempt to impose religious doctrine in public schools and upheld every student’s right to learn free from government-imposed faith,” John L. Williams, the ACLU of Arkansas’ legal director said in a statement. “We’re proud to stand with our clients — families of many different backgrounds — who simply want their kids to get an education.”

While it’s currently unclear if the ACLU will move to expand the block to include all Arkansas school districts, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Arkansas told CNN that “it is clear from this order and long-established law that all should refrain from posting” the Ten Commandment displays in classrooms.

Arkansas isn’t the only state with laws mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, as Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma have all passed similar laws. A federal judge also blocked the Ten Commandments from being displayed in Louisiana schools.

The issue of religious displays in public classrooms is largely expected to go before the Supreme Court as a result of the cases filed against these laws. Considering that the conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court has made several questionable rulings expanding executive power, limiting the injunction power of federal judges, and straight up reversing a woman’s right to choose, it’s sadly questionable whether they would move to erase the separation of church and state. 

In a perfect country, religious freedom would mean every American is free to practice whatever religion they choose without worry of persecution or favoritism by the state. Yet many of the Supreme Court’s rulings regarding religious freedom have leaned towards allowing Christians to actively discriminate against LGBTQ people, or allow employers to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives that go against their religious values.  

The growing trend of laws mandating Christian doctrine be taught and displayed in schools is yet another sign of Christian Nationalism’s creep into America’s political system. Christian Nationalism believes that America was founded as a Christian nation and its laws should reflect Christian values.

Of course, since this is the Republican party we’re talking abou,t those “Christian Values” aren’t loving your fellow man, being kind to the poor, but instead revolve around controlling women’s bodies and persecuting anyone who dares to be “woke.” 

I’m just saying, it’s kind of funny they’re standing ten toes down on the Ten Commandments being displayed in schools despite voting for a noted adulterer, habitual liar, whose domestic policies effectively steal from the working class to pay the rich. 

That doesn’t sound too Christ-like to me. 

SEE ALSO:

Federal Court Rules No Ten Commandments Display In Louisiana Schools

Louisiana Is The 1st State To Indoctrinate Students By Requiring The Ten Commandments In Public Schools

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