The GOP-backed legislation, which took effect July 1, allows school boards to display a specific, state-approved version of the religious text along with portions of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
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***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only. Per The Tennessee Lookout’s republishing guidelines, it has been edited for writing style and length.
By Anita Wadhwani [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
A northeast Tennessee school board this week became at least the third in the state to approve the display of the Ten Commandments in its public schools since a new GOP-backed law giving districts the option took effect July 1.
With little debate, the Washington County Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of the text’s display in a “prominent” place in each of its 15 schools, alongside the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, in accordance with the new state law.
Last month, the Wilson County Board of Education voted to post the same documents in common areas of its schools. In anticipation of the then-bill becoming law, the Rutherford County Schools in April also voted to approve displaying the documents in all of the county’s K-12 public schools.
On Wednesday, one member of the Washington County Board expressed reservations about the measure, but said he felt compelled to cast a “yes” vote after an “overwhelming response” from constituents in favor of it, including “a couple personal visits to my front door.”
Vince Walters, another board member, said he had no reservations.
“I stand under Jesus Christ, and I just have a problem with people singling the commandments out of these documents,” Walters said after several community members urged board members to vote against posting the Biblical text in public schools.
“We’re not worried about coercing kids with the Declaration of Independence, so-called coercion, or the Constitution, Tennessee or U.S. If we’re not worried about posting those, why are we worried about posting the Ten Commandments? I’m tired of God being singled out and God’s things being singled out because somebody’s afraid of a little bit of a liability.”
Critics of the legislation say the religious text has no place in public schools, interferes with parents’ well-established right to guide their children’s religious education and violates the First Amendment. There have been no known legal challenges filed against the Tennessee law in the weeks since it took effect.
The legislation, signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee in May, contains in full the state-approved version of the Ten Commandments that school districts that opt to post the text must use.
The text contained in the law is also identical to language inscribed on a monument at the Texas State Capitol that the Supreme Court in 2005 ruled was constitutionally permissible.
The Tennessee law says the Ten Commandments may be posted alongside the preamble to the United States Constitution and the first sentence of the second paragraph of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, which reads:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The legislation gives each local school board and public charter school the discretion to decide the size and placement of the documents, but requires that they be displayed in a “prominent location, with text in a font size that is no smaller than at least twenty-six point, and in a style and manner that is easy for students to see and read.”
It defines “prominent location” as a school entryway, cafeteria, or common area where students are likely to see the display.
The legislation says the prominent placement of the Biblical and government texts is intended “to educate students on the documents’ historical significance and how the documents shaped the common cultural heritage of (a public school district) or public charter school, this state, and the United States of America.”
The legislation, in its initial form, would have mandated that all Tennessee school districts post the texts, but was amended during the legislative session to make it optional.
2 Responses
Until I became 18 years old and began attending a public university, the Ten Commandments were posted in every classroom I entered. Why did Tennessee stop at the high schools? They should be in ALL public schools including our universities. The Constitution, the Preamble and the Declaration of Independence were posted in all History and Civics classes in my schools as well.
Good, hope many more follow.