Alabama House approves bill requiring Ten Commandment displays in public schools – JURIST
The Alabama House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday requiring K-12 public schools to display the Ten Commandments in common school areas and classrooms routinely used to teach US history.
The bill states that displaying the Ten Commandments “with an appropriate context statement” is essential to educating students in “Civics, Government, History, Philosophy, Religion, and Sociology.”
The bill provides that the context statement is to state:
The Ten Commandments are a key part of the Judeo-Christian religious and moral tradition that shaped Western Civilization and ultimately the founding of the United States. There are many versions of the Ten Commandments. The one that follows is a common translation but not the only translation.
The bill explains that the purpose of the display is to “acknowledge the historical role of the Ten Commandments – and the broader Judeo-Christian tradition – in shaping American civil society.”
The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the House’s passage of the bill as violating the First Amendment‘s protection of the free exercise of religion:
The First Amendment guarantees that students and their families — not politicians or the government — get to decide which religious beliefs, if any, they adopt and what role those beliefs will play in their lives. Displaying the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms blatantly violates this promise. Students can’t focus on learning if they don’t feel safe and welcome in their schools. These bills are unconstitutional – plain and simple.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey justified the bill as facilitating the “teaching of history, not imposing religion.” Representative Patrick Sellers argued in a House session over the bill that the Ten Commandments are principles that Alabama children need given “[w]hat goes on within our society today.” He elaborated that the children need to look at the displays “to remind them of what they and how they should live from day to day. That’s what’s missing in our schools, that’s what’s missing in our homes, that’s what’s missing in our families. You need the word of God.”
The bill stated that it does not violate Alabama’s and the US’s constitutional prohibition on state-established religion. It cited examples of references to God and religion in public documents throughout US history without any serious claim that such references violate the Establishment Clause, such as Ten Commandment displays in the US Supreme Court and references to God in the US Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
The House’s passage of the bill comes after recent attempts by various states to incorporate Christian-focused materials into K-12 public educational settings.
The bill now moves to the Senate. If approved, Alabama’s Ten Commandment displays would be required to be put up by January 1, 2026.
