For decades, parents bemoaned the lack of religion in schools. Even back in my school days, the reason for every ill behavior came down to the lack of school prayer.
And this is an accurate assessment. From the time of the American founding – and even before – children got a moral education. For most societies, a moral education meant a Christian education.
The founding fathers specifically received a classical education, which always aimed to build a moral student. Students were taught to read using the Bible so they could read it on their own. They were taught to write by copying maxims from scripture.
Unfortunately, we aren’t back to this standard of education yet. But Alabama took a great step toward this standard by passing the 10 Commandments bill, requiring this moral code to be put in every school’s history classrooms for grades five through 12.
This promising law sets up an interesting legal challenge, however.
You may remember that in 2022, the Supreme Court did away with the infamous Lemon test in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. The Lemon test was the left’s attempt to change separation of church and state (a phrase which isn’t even in the Constitution) to separation of God from government – a concept that every American founder, including the non-Christian Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, would have found abhorrent and stupid. In Kennedy, the Court held that the Establishment Clause needed to be interpreted according to history and tradition, something conservatives were arguing for all along.
At first glance, it sounds like this fight is over! We won!
That’s mostly true. But there’s one specific issue that Kennedy didn’t overrule: the “subtle coercion” of religion in schools.
In a 1992 case called Lee v. Weisman, Justice Kennedy, showing early signs that he was going to be a problem, sided with the liberals, holding that a public school invitation for a rabbi to pray at a graduation ceremony was unconstitutional. According to Kennedy, the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from using coercion to force people to support religions that they don’t want to support. But a special problem arises with children, Kennedy said. Because they’re so susceptible to impression, merely exposing them to a prayer at a graduation ceremony is “subtle coercion.”
Justice Scalia, the face of originalism, didn’t buy it. Dissenting, Scalia argued that the historical coercion which the Establishment Clause prohibited involved physical punishment or the threat of legal action. That’s a far cry from just having students wait respectfully for a minute while someone expresses a viewpoint with which they may disagree.
Most real conservatives agree with Scalia that the Constitution protects people from actual punishment rather than snowflakes from hearing an offensive viewpoint. Unfortunately, Kennedy’s opinion won the day, and 2022 Kennedy case didn’t overrule it.
But today’s Court might do that if given the chance.
That’s where Alabama’s new law comes into play. If a group like the ACLU or the Freedom From Religion Foundation sues, Alabama should not retreat. Instead, it should stand firm and fight. I’m optimistic we’d win for the following reasons.
First, this case might not even have to go to the Supreme Court. Technically, the Supreme Court case that’s most on point is Stone v. Graham(1980), which said that states couldn’t display the 10 Commandments in schools. But Stone was based on Lemon, not on Lee. Since Kennedy overruled Lemon, Stone is as dead as Ayatollah Khomeini.
The only way the left can attack the 10 Commandments is by trying to stretch Lee to cover a passive display of the 10 Commandments. That’s about as weak as Iran’s new supreme leader trying to fight Trump’s military from his coma. The students in Lee were forced to stand respectfully while the only speaker prayed to a deity that they might not acknowledge, but having a passive display of the 10 Commandments on a wall doesn’t force them to do anything.
Finally, the law frames the 10 Commandments as a critical part of U.S. history. In a pair of 2005 10 Commandments cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, the key takeaway was that the chances of the 10 Commandments surviving a legal challenge were better if they were displayed as part of history. That’s exactly what Alabama's new law does.
We’re long overdue to bring morality back into education, and I’m proud of our state legislators for taking action. If the snowflake left wants us to surrender the 10 Commandments, I’ve got four words: “Come and Take Them.”
Laura Clark is a wife, mother, and community activist. She currently serves as the interim president of Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, a conservative nonprofit law firm that fights for limited government, free markets, and strong families in the courts. Anything written by Laura for this publication does not constitute legal advice.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
