Louisiana Just Put The Ten Commandments In Every Classroom. Here’s The Other Danger With That Law
From Forbes.com
Louisiana just passed a law to require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, and critics have already raised the alarm about the violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Civil Liberties groups are already challenging the law.
Many critics have pointed out the irony of a legislature that has worked hard to end indoctrination in classroom seems intent on installing some indoctrination of their own.
But there’s another troubling layer to this that highlights the danger of eliminating the wall between church and state.
When you mix religion and politics, the old saw goes, you get politics.
Writing for CNN, Eli Federman argues that by putting the Ten Commandments on an equal footing with such documents as the Mayflower Compact secularizes the commandments. The law “harms religion by undermining the commandments’ sanctity.”
The law attempts to argue that the Ten Commandments are a crucial and foundational part of United States history, and critics are rightly concerned that the history taught to students may be altered to make the decalogue fit.
But as Federman suggests, there is danger to the religious side of the issue as well, even beyond treating holy scripture as just one more secular text.
The Old Testament provides three distinct versions of the commandments. But the law lays out exactly what version of the Ten Commandments is to appear in each classroom.
I know that irony is kind of lost these days, but the SEL programs that are so condemned actually dovetail well with the purported reasons for displaying the commandments. The commandments, by definition, TELL you what to do. SEL teaches the more important element of WHY. That builds internal morality and conscience rather than simple obedience to authority.
I guess it would be pointless whistling in the wind to point how many of the 10 have been repeatedly violated by the favored presidential candidate of the folks who demand the Commandments be posed in all classrooms. Or, that it's supporters no doubt denounce so-called social and emotional support learning that tries to get kids to treat everyone with empathy and respect.