Tennessee Senate passes bill making schools put up Ten Commandments

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: man/The Independent

12h


The Tennessee Senate on Thursday passed a bill requiring public schools to display copies of the Ten Commandments in a “prominent” place alongside historical documents such as the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Critics said the bill inappropriately mixes church and state.

“Our children need to be learning about reading, writing, arithmetic, science, tech to get them ready to be a world-class generation of kids who can push this country forward, not be indoctrinated to what the Bible says here and there,” Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis-area Democrat, said during floor debate. “That is the responsibility of the church, their parents, their families and whatever private entities they want to engage with in order to receive the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro, of Nashville, said legislators should spend more time trying to follow the commandments themselves and warned the bill, which passed 27 to 6, would prompt costly legal battles. “It’s inevitable that taxpayers will end up paying for litigation,” he said at a press conference.

“Our Constitution’s promise of church-state separation means that families – not politicians – get to decide if, when and how children engage with religion,” Rachel Laser, CEO of the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told The Independent in a statement. “Ten Commandments displays in public schools are clearly unconstitutional and a violation of families’ religious freedom.” The group is urging Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to reject the legislation.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/news/tennessee-senate-passes-bill-making-schools-put-up-ten-commandments/ar-AA1Z5ioD

[no_hypocrisy]

1. "Teacher! Teacher! What does 'adultery' mean???"

Paging Justice Potter Stewart, re. pornography.

[seabiscuit5920]

2. Which version of the ten commandments???

There are different versions in the judeo/christian sects of the ten commandments. Which version do they use to indoctrinate our children from the one we may be teaching them?

[SorellaLaBefana]

3. And which version of "THE 'Decalogue'" would that be? Cecil B. DeMille's I would wager.

For, in the Holy Books, there are at least THREE different versions — none of which, as I recall, give a neatly numbered 1-10. These versions are, in turn, presented in different combinations in Catholic and in Protestant Bibles.

To a person sitting in darkness (as Mark Twain put it) it truly is most vexing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Yes, it was the DeMille version that another state chose a year or two ago

and it does seem to be the preferred version among Republicans.

https://www.thetorah.com/blogs/ten-commandments-in-every-classroom-the-texas-bill-version

It leaves out the important bits of context like "which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" - which both notes these Commandments were specific to the Hebrews, and that they were explicitly anti-slavery - embarrassing for a white-dominated country in the 1950s with Jim Crow still going. Or "thou shalt not do any work" on the Sabbath - which the USA obviously ignores in a major way.

A smaller change is that the text paraphrases “ox and ass” as “cattle,” which was likely motivated by a desire to avoid the word “ass.”

OK, I can see that's worth doing to avoid one of the more obvious jokes in class.

on edit: Yeah, it's the 1950s DeMille version they've gone for, as documented above. See https://web.archive.org/web/20260321172819/https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Amend/SA0682.pdf (why am I linking an archive of the Tennessee state site? Because Tennessee is so goddamn proud of its legislature that it geoblocks the UK from accessing its website, that's why.)

https://www.salon.com/2024/07/07/ten-commandments-gone-wild-the-christian-rights-latest-distraction/

[ms liberty]

4. I see this biting them in the a** in the high schools

Kids know what's up. Kids are smart asses.

Teacher A, having affair with Coach B: "hey teach, explain that adultery commandment to us?"
Teacher X, a chronic liar and cheat: "hey teach, tell us about bearing false witness? How about coveting?"

There won't be any chuff from the elementary schoolers, and the middle schoolers will only be a bit of trouble. But the high schoolers...well let's just say, those teachers - they'd better be saints.

[GiqueCee]

5. Well, if...

... you really want to educate children with the Bible instead of lessons that can help make their lives more satisfying and productive, why don't you include Ezekiel 23:20 on the walls of classrooms, and see what their parents think of that.
Instigating culture wars with fabricated crises is all Republicans can do; they are congenitally incapable of constructive leadership, so they start fights to divide people, which serves no worthwhile social purpose. All they want is POWER, which is just shorthand for total dominion over the lives of others.
What results in every theocracy ever conceived is wanton savagery to instill fear, and to enforce compulsory devotion to the Demagogue of the Day. And it always ends badly. Always.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. Why do they keep doing this when these stupid laws keep getting struck down???

[walkingman]

7. "Thou shalt not kill" seems to be translated a lot of different ways by theists.

Just War/State-Sanctioned Acts: Historically and in some theological interpretations, this has not been viewed as prohibiting actions like capital punishment or participation in war.

Sounds mighty convenient to me......😊

[Firestorm49]

8. Ironic, isn't it? Love thy neighbor, no false gods, blah, blah, blah. What an insult to the commandments.

[twodogsbarking]

9. A historic document. Ponder that.

[Karadeniz]

10. The commandments havent done much good historically.

[eringer]

11. The Lord's Prayer is Next to be Posted

With a painting of Jesus wearing a MAGA ball cap and carrying an AR-15.

[travelingthrulife]

13. I can't think of a better way to make kids give up these toxic religions.

[travelingthrulife]

12. These religious creeps need to be taxed back under their rocks.

[Farmer-Rick]

14. But I thought the old testament

Was overturned when Jesus came. So, are they going to post the laws about not eating shrimp and pork, wearing clothes with mixed fibers or how to treat your slaves too???

[Martin68]

15. Unquestionably unconstitutional. That is a religious test on our public schools.

[CTyankee]

16. AGAIN? I thought this was settled law...

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. 3 days earlier, in a neighbouring state: Arkansas school districts blocked from displaying Ten Commandments

A federal judge has permanently blocked several Arkansas school districts from implementing a state law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

Citing a landmark 1962 U.S. Supreme Court opinion over prayer in public schools, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks ruled March 16 that the state "may have lost sight of the fact that 'a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion'" in passing Arkansas Act 573.

The displays would violate students' and parents’ First Amendment rights, he said. The First Amendment bars the government from "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

"The law serves no educational purpose, as the State admits, and consequently deprives Plaintiffs of their rights," Brooks wrote.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/03/16/arkansas-school-districts-ten-commandments-lawsuit/89188310007/

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143634386

[ChicagoTeamster]

18. Also post the articles of secession and confederation and explain how they violated the 10 commandments and constitution