Indiana’s terrible legislature is at it again. Lawmakers have advanced revised legislation that would allow — but not require, as in the original proposal — public schools to post the Ten Commandments in school buildings and classrooms.
This effort pops up repeatedly, and each time it passes, it is predictably challenged in Court and found unconstitutional. So rather than writing about the current effort, I just went back into my archives and found what I’d written about previous attempts to force our legislative overlords’ version of religiosity on captive student audiences.
This one was from 1997.
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If I believed passionately that everyone would be better off for reading my religion’s version of the Ten Commandments, what would I do?
I’d probably start by distributing leaflets containing the Ten Commandments everywhere I could–on street corners, at the grocery store, at sports and entertainment events.
I might ask local churches and individuals to erect replicas of the Ten Commandments on their lawns or porches.
I could ask local newspapers to reproduce them; if the papers wouldn’t do so as a contribution, I might try to raise the money to buy a paid advertisement.
I would certainly use the Internet to find others who agreed with me on the importance of widespread distribution, and would engage them in my project.
I might sell t-shirts printed with the Commandments.
I might hold a rally, and bring in people to speak about the importance of the Ten Commandments in their lives.
And of course, I would do my very best to live up to the principles of the Commandments and other great religious precepts. ( “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” comes to mind; there are many others.)
Every single one of those methods for promoting the Ten Commandments and righteous behavior is constitutionally protected.
If, however, all I really want is for my government to send a message that my particular beliefs are the proper ones, I wouldn’t bother with any of these time-consuming activities. I’d just petition my local officials to post the Commandments so that everyone visiting a public building will know who really belongs in this country and who doesn’t. It will be important that my document appear on government-owned buildings, so it will be very clear what my government approves–and by implication, what (and who) it doesn’t.
Unfortunately for those who wish to be more equal than others, the First Amendment forbids government from issuing such endorsements, just as it would forbid the passage of laws requiring the posting of the Bill of Rights in all churches. The First Amendment protects our right to advocate in the public square, but it forbids us to enlist the help of the 800 pound gorilla– government– aka the public sector.
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I saw no need to revise any of the foregoing…Indiana’s “Christian” soldiers are nothing if not repetitive and predictable.
Of course, our legislative culture warriors aren’t limiting themselves to their love affair with
the Cecil B. DeMille version of the Ten Commandments. Just in case they haven’t intruded into women’s healthcare sufficiently–while incidentally adding to the state’s brain drain and maternity-care deserts, and making it difficult for Indiana businesses to recruit women employees–they are intent upon passing a bill empowering individuals to sue companies that fill prescriptions of
abortion-inducing pills.As usual, these GOP “pro-life” warriors are supporting other measures that rather vividly demonstrate that they are actually “pro-birth.” Once those babies are born, Indiana isn’t interested in either feeding them or providing them with medical care–Republican bills limiting poor families’ access to
Medicaid and SNAP are likely to make it through the legislative process.And Indiana wouldn’t be a “good Christian state” without a transgender bathroom bill targeting the vanishingly small number of transgender children whose very existence apparently contradicts their narrow and hate-filled theologies.
Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but if it wasn’t for extreme gerrymandering, it is doubtful that Indiana’s legislature would be dominated by this wildly unrepresentative super-majority. (Polls regularly show that some 55 percent of Indiana voters are pro-choice, for example. And the absence of faux-religious iconography in our public school classrooms rarely if ever makes the list of Hoosier political concerns.)
Most Americans are currently and understandably fixated on resisting the neo-Nazi takeover of our national government, but if and when actual Americans regain control, Hoosiers really will need to do something about our undemocratic and unrepresentative state government.
Amen, as usual. Well stated Sheila.
The pro-life gop need all these babies so in 20 to 35 years they’ll have victims to slam into the ground and shoot in the back of the head, or shoot through open windows of cars while standing to the side. Than they can claim they were the victims. Democrat policy is far more in line with Yeshua’s teachings then anything the gop can come up with
Let’s be honest: the last people who should be imposing any kind of morality on others are the political class. In fact, most of the “moral politicians” who go to change the world end up resigning in anguish because the government isn’t exactly made up of the purest of hearts and motives.
Nearly every single one of the Republicans in Washington is dying to kill Iranians and Chinese, and is protecting the pedophiles who raped young girls and boys. That includes the POTUS. In the latest tranche released, there is even more evidence of Trump’s participation in pedophilia and possibly murder, based on victim testimony. There is also more evidence that FLOTUS was very good friends with Ghislaine Maxwell, even though she herself was trafficked and knew very well what was going on. That’s how she met the POTUS.
So, let’s all go down to the Statehouse in Indy, and ask our Republican representatives to denounce the POTUS and FLOTUS. Call them out and demand they resign or be impeached. Stand up for your morals! If you can’t do that proudly, then STFU and sit down.
Todd,
I love it when you get on your soapbox and scream for responsible action. Too bad Republicans are tone-deaf to those crimes and indiscretions. They’re too busy looking for another corporate tit to nurse on.
I read that it would take only 23 Congressional Republicans to join the Democrats in ridding the nation of this Trumpian blight and its minions. Is that true?
Vern, I do not know the number it would take, but would loudly applaud whoever came over to the side of reason.
Indiana and Florida seem to be in the same disgraceful predicament in regard to our state legislatures. There is a group, here, that is going to try to get my local federal rep. to hold a public meeting, a thing he’s not done for a very long time, rubber stamp that he is. I’m sure DeSantis thinks he’s just a great guy.
Sheila, you make the best argument against government sponsored religion I ever read. Thanks for this, and I will be using it too.
If any Republicans are viewing today’s entry,riddle me this..
Why is it today’s Republican Party claims to be religious and vehemently extolling the virtue of family values but, protects wealthy pedophiles.
I await your answer.
Start a debate over which version of the ten commandments must be posted. The fight would probably kill the bill in its tracks.
Vern, by my count it would take 23 in the Senate, but we would also need 3 in the House.
As usual when someone wants to put the Ten Commandments on the wall, my impulse is always to ask which one? That generally stops them because, for all of their religious scholarship, they never knew there are at least three versions.
For the sake of ideological consistency, if school districts and boards are not governmental entities subject to the restrictions of the first amendment, let’s allow them to curtail speech, assembly, student newspapers, etc. Uh oh; bet that sounds attractive to the Indiana legislature.
Ian,
Easy call. The rich pedophiles are the Republicans paymasters who tell them what to do and pay them for it. They use religion as a cudgel to kindle and foment the bigotry, fear, prejudice and compliance of the weakest among us.
Peggy,
Thanks for the research. Too bad there aren’t 26 Republicans brave enough to spit out the corporate tit and do their jobs for the sake of the Constitution and the people of our country.
Vern,
From what I see, Republicans would rather resign than speak the truth. That’s how cowardly they have become.
James Talarico out of Texas came on my radar when I watched him debate a Rep who was wanting to force classrooms to post the Ten Commandments. I am keeping an eye on him. He was a school teacher and he is quite compelling–nothing I love better than watching him take down proselytizing ‘Christians’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peqzHceiXGU
It’s got to be made known that in US we have freedom to practice religion or not. Representatives need to understand that perpetuating their current beliefs through law could be totally turned around when the political winds shift and a different belief system would/could dominate. In China women were forced to have abortions. If religious people think their religion is the only right way, then they should appreciate that US they are free to practice that for themselves. We don’t want to give the government the power to intrude in on our spiritual, private and life decisions.