MONTGOMERY — After failing to pass last year, the House of Representatives finalized a bill on the final day of the 2026 legislative session requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments, provided that the display or the funds to purchase one are donated to the school.
Senate Bill 99 (SB99), sponsored by State Sen. Keith Kelley (R-Anniston), requires each local board of education in the state to display the Ten Commandments, along with a context statement, in each history classroom serving students in grades 5 through 12. The display would have to be donated or purchased with donated funds. Per the legislation, the commandments would also have to be displayed in a common area of each school that serves only fifth-grade students or above.
The bill would condition the requirement on the availability of donated displays or donated funds to purchase displays. The bill would require the State Department of Education to identify and publicize free resources that local boards of education may use to comply with the display requirement.
SB99 was carried in the House by State Rep. Mark Gidley (R-Hokes Bluff), who stood at the podium for over an hour and a half listening to frequently less-than-coherent objections from Democratic lawmakers.
Since Gidley introduced similar legislation last year, Democratic lawmakers have contended that the bill violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The bill has since undergone revisions that supporters believe make it legally bulletproof, treating the displays as more historical than religious and including a multi-page preamble that opines on the Ten Commandments’ historical impact on America and Western civilization.
SEE: House committee approves school Ten Commandments bill — 'Would meet any kind of legal muster'
Despite that contention, Democratic lawmakers spoke at length on the bill’s perceived negatives. However, the first to speak was one of the few Democrats to vote in favor. Patrick Sellers (D-Birmingham) stated that any education that does not acknowledge the foundational role of the Ten Commandments is an “incomplete education.”
“Our children deserve the full story,” Sellers said. “Not a filtered version. Not a politically convenient version, but the truth.”
Plenty of Republican lawmakers likewise spoke in support of the bill.
“The idea that our education doesn’t reinforce an idea of morality, and God, and truth is just a farce,” said State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough (R-Trinity). “Because all schools teach kids where they come from, who they are, and where they’re going.”
He continued, “It’s high time that we be the adults in the room and tell our children that our rights and our freedoms are rooted in God and the faith of our country.”
State Rep. Mack Butler (R-Rainbow City) noted that the history of public schools in the country began in churches and that, historically, education and religious education were synonymous.
State Rep. Kelvin Datcher (D-Birmingham) questioned the effectiveness of the Ten Commandments since, when they were last prominent in public schools, black Americans were facing oppression.
“How effective was the display and inclusion of the commandments when, at the same time, folks who sat on front rows of churches were bombing churches?” Datcher rhetorically asked. “The time that we’re talking about being influenced by the commandments was not a great time for everybody.”
He continued, “We slaughtered an entire civilization on this ground, and we enslaved another civilization on this ground.”
State Rep. Marilyn Lands (D-Huntsville) expressed general annoyance that legislative time was being spent on bills like this instead of tackling what she believes are more substantive issues.
Other lawmakers claimed the law would be exclusionary to students of other religions and nationalities.
State Rep. Phillip Ensler (D-Montgomery), claiming pride in his “Jewish faith,” expressed skepticism about having the history of the commandments taught in school rather than at home.
‘There are children that are Muslim or Hindu, and other religions as well. And if the Ten Commandments are in schools, and I know you are saying it’s for historical purposes, but children who then don’t have documents in the classroom from their faith can feel alienated, and it will make them, at times, feel like they are not included.”
After hearing objections and support for over an hour and a half, the bill passed the House of Representatives 81-10 with 10 abstentions. The no votes were exclusively from Democratic lawmakers. The bill will now go to Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature before becoming law.
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