State-Imposed Christian Supremacy

Louisiana and Oklahoma are just the start but there are alternatives

In recent weeks, the Louisiana governor signed into a law a requirement that the Ten Commandments be placed in every public school classroom. Last week, the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction suggested a mandate that public school classrooms for grades 5 to 12.

Referring to the Louisiana law, the New York Times observed:

Taken together, the measures have signaled the ambition of the governor and the Republican-led Legislature to be at the forefront of a growing national movement to create and interpret laws according to a particular conservative Christian worldview. And Mr. Landry, a Catholic who has been vocal about his faith’s influence in shaping his politics, wants to lead the charge.

With regard to Oklahoma, the local NPR station reported:

In the press gathering after the board meeting, Walters further clarified the mandate applied to “every classroom where the standards are applicable.” Asked to elaborate on which subject-specific academic standards that would mean, Walters answered it would be social studies and English language arts.

“So, the social studies standards are the most straightforward,” Walters said. “You also have some of our ELA standards too that talk about literature to be used. So that’s something else that we will be discussing in the future as well.”

There are clear separation of church and state issues in both states, especially with regard to the establishment clause. That’s why Louisiana will rely on donations to pay for the Ten Commandment posters — spending state funds for them would cross the line. Waters in Oklahoma isn’t clear about who should pay for the Bibles in classrooms. And while he doesn’t mandate that the Bible be used in instruction, it’s hard to imagine that he would ever take action against a teacher who did so even if parents complained.

Given its recent jurisprudence in cases like Kennedy, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Carson, and Creative 303, it’s a stretch to think that the conservative majority on the Supreme Court would intervene in these constitutional workarounds. Even though suits have already been filed in Louisiana, I’m not optimistic about how those will fair in the long run. Those suits will eventually wind up in the Fifth Circuit, probably the most conservative of the federal appellate bodies.

Defenders of the Louisiana and Oklahoma actions point to "our Judeo-Christian roots”. They seem to argue that these religious tokens are simply reflections of our founding and the civil religion values of our society. That these are in the same vein as the famous Eisenhower quote, “our society makes no sense unless it is founded upon a deeply felt religious faith, and I don’t care what that is.”

As the AP’s Holly Meyer and Peter Smith observe, citing historian Kevin Kruse, the Louisiana Ten Commandments were developed by the Fraternal Order of Eagles to promote the Charlton Heston film, The Ten Commandments.

The version in the Louisiana law matches the wording on the Ten Commandments monolith that stands outside of the Texas State Capitol in Austin. It was given to the state in 1961 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a more than 125-year-old, Ohio-based service organization with thousands of members. In 2005, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled it did not violate the constitution and could stay.

The Eagles did not respond to The Associated Press’s request for comment, but the organization notes on its website that it distributed about 10,000 Ten Commandments plaques in 1954. The organization also partnered with the creators of “The Ten Commandments” to market the film, spreading public displays of the list around the country, according to Kruse, who wrote about the relationship in his book “One Nation Under God.”

If Landry’s Ten Commandments and Walters’ Bibles are to be seen simply as cultural artifacts, and not a statement of religious superiority, you wouldn’t know it from those celebrating the actions. The Times story above includes an example:

The Christian political movement has been evident in debates across the country over transgender rights, school curriculums, in vitro fertilization and abortion. In Arizona, during the fight over an abortion ban from 1864, the speaker of the House, Ben Toma, told The New York Times in April that “all of our laws are actually based on, what, the Ten Commandments and the Book of Genesis, which are thousands of years ago.”

It is an argument that has been repeated by supporters of the Ten Commandments law in Louisiana, who contend that the commandments are a historical document as well as a religious text.

“This is all born of the leftist culture war tearing down the fabric of the country, and we are saying, ‘Enough,’” said Jason Rapert, founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers and a former state senator in Arkansas. “We are going to try to rebuild the foundation of this country.”

When asked by CNN what she would say to students concerned about the Ten Commandments being posted in the classroom, Louisiana representative Lauren Ventrella replied “Don’t look at it”. I’d assume Oklahoma’s Waters would say something similar.

Underneath their argument seems to be a Durkheimian sense that anything is okay if it reflects the values a of majority of the surrounding community. Add to this the reality that the state legislatures are so lopsided in both states that little pushback to these policies is possible.

They make moves like this not only because they can, but because they have no incentive for considering how minority positions would be affected. According to the 2014 Pew Religion Landscape study, 16% of Louisianans are non-Christian (figure is likely higher a decade later). In a classroom of 30 kids, there will be 5 who are told to “look away”.

Three weeks ago, I wrote about a book using John Rawls philosophy to discuss economic justice. One of the keys to Rawls’s thought is what he called “the difference principle”. We should only accept a level of inequality that would still maximize the life experiences of those on the bottom rung of the economy.

Something similar can be argued with regard to religious freedom and expression. We should only go as far as that which would not infringe on those who think differently. It’s literally The Golden Rule.

Imagine the outrage on Fox News’ The Five if they heard that leaders in Dearborn, Michigan announced that they were mandating a Quran be placed in every classroom. After all, just last year, Dearborn became the first Arab-majority city in the country.

Imagine how many nights Sean Hannity would rail about a mandate that all business in El Paso, TX be conducted in Spanish. After all, according to the 2020 census, El Paso is 81% Hispanic and 64% speak Spanish.

Both of these examples are outlandish, not just because of conservative outrage, but because we don’t enact policy just to protect our immediate group. That’s what it means to live in a pluralistic society. We try to put ourselves in the shoes of others not like us and take them into consideration.

The Supreme Court’s conservative commitment to originalism will not save us, as the Grants Pass decision criminalizing people without housing made clear. This is an exercise in democracy and will call on everyday citizens to practice this empathic decision-making in advocacy, at the polling booth, or running for office.¹

1. Can you tell I just finished the Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor book, Democracy or Else?