Today’s devotional is going to be a bit different. This is only part one. The spiritual application will come tomorrow. This devotional is simply setting up the story. If I didn’t split it, the devotional would be too long and I’m afraid you wouldn’t keep reading. So… this will be a cliff hanger!
June 19, 2024. Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisianna was at a Republican fund raiser in Tennessee when he made the declaration that he could hardly wait to get home to sign into a law a bill that required the posting of the Ten Commandments in all school classrooms. House Bill 71 §2122 states that: “Each public school governing authority shall display the Ten Commandments in each building it uses and classroom in each school under its jurisdiction. The nature of the display shall be determined by each governing authority with a minimum requirement that the Ten Commandments shall be displayed on a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches. The text of the Ten Commandments shall be the central focus of the poster or framed document and shall be printed in a large, easily readable font.”1
This bill, considered a first of its kind, also allows “judges to order the surgical castration of rapists who prey on children, and a Texas-style immigration measure that allows law enforcement to arrest and jail migrants who enter the U.S. illegally. He enacted a new law classifying abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances. He expanded death row execution methods and concealed carry of a gun without a permit.”2
Gov. Landry signed this bill into law on June 21, 2024. At the fund raiser, he acknowledged that he knew what was coming. Landry said, “And I can’t wait to get sued!”3
Naturally, the ACLU swung immediately into action, getting the ball rolling for legal action to begin on Wednesday, June 26th. But the ACLU isn’t the only group protesting the governor’s bill. Over 100 pastors sent a letter to the governor, urging him to veto this bill. Their reason? This bill doesn’t respect diversity of religion. It requires teachers to become versed in the Bible to answer the students’ questions. “We do not need to turn public schools into Sunday schools.”4
To their credit, each “pastor” signed the letter. The denominational breakdown is: 21 Presbyterians, 13 Episcopalians, 12 Catholics, 12 Methodists, 3 Lutherans, 3 Universalists, 1 each who called themselves Believer, Non Denominational, devoted Christian, and Christian. And, at the top of the list is 39 – Baptists!5 Obviously, these aren’t conservative and Biblical Baptists.
Why would Governor Landry step on this powder keg? He knew that it was going to erupt. His political career and aspirations are going to be harpooned, especially if this goes to the Supreme Court and is overturned. What was the impetus for signing? “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver,
which was Moses” who got the commandments from God, Landry said.6
Landry isn’t wrong and his view was held by our nation’s forefathers. In The Washington Times, an article from June 23, 2024 states, “Our country’s cultural elites have come to think that teaching the laws of Moses in our public schools is an egregious breach of the wall separating church from state. But even an elementary school understanding of American history teaches the opposite. By quoting Moses repeatedly, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, James Madison and Paine were not calling for a theocracy, but they were instead stating the obvious: Everyone — the religious and nonreligious alike — benefits from a Mosaic understanding of the laws of nature and nature’s God.
“In other words, the men who wrote our Constitution and set the parameters for the liberties we now enjoy understood that the laws of Moses do not restrict human freedom but rather serve to define, ensure and protect it.”7
Teddy Roosevelt put it very succinctly. “The nation should be ruled by the Ten Commandments.” It doesn’t get any plainer than that!
Tomorrow, we are going to continue on this devotional topic but let me leave us with this reminder concerning God’s law: Psalms 19:7 “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
1https://legiscan.com/LA/text/HB71/id/2920274
2https://apnews.com/article/governor-jeff-landry-louisiana-conservative-bef181b17cb5a5819514c7c68ae8f2e1
3https://www.nola.com/news/education/louisiana-ten-commandments-jeff-landry-legal-challenge-lawsuit-religion/article_fa92d2f6-2da8-11ef-95b4-6fe9249a5daa.html
4https://cbf.net/veto-petition
5Ibid.
6https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-law-requires-all-louisiana-public-school-classrooms-to-display-the-ten-commandments-efe4a1d4
7https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jun/23/whats-big-deal-about-ten-commandments/
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