Yet another attempt by fundamentalist Christian activists to impose their religious beliefs on others has rightly been struck down by an American court as unconstitutional. In short, this was an effort to override the established law in the United States and instead enforce religious doctrine under the guise of state authority.
It seems to be a recurring feature of American fundamentalist Christianity that its adherents claim a privileged position based on the false notion that the United States is a Christian nation, created by and for Christians with the blessing of their particular god. This revisionist view is bolstered by professional Christian apologists and pseudo-historians like the notoriously unreliable David Barton, who has made a career of peddling misleading claims. In one infamous television interview, Barton declared that the U.S. Constitution was taken “verbatim” from the Bible — a claim so transparently absurd that it could only resonate with an audience unlikely to verify it. In truth, there is nothing in the Bible remotely resembling the principles or structure of the U.S. Constitution.
The reality is that many of the Founding Fathers — especially Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence and helped draft the Constitution — were committed to the principle of religious liberty. Jefferson famously advocated for a “wall of separation between Church and State,” a principle enshrined in the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. This was seen as essential to ensure true freedom of religion and to prevent any one sect from gaining control over public institutions.
The defeated Louisiana law, signed by Republican Governor Jeff Landry, required all public schools in the state to display a poster-sized version of the so-called "Ten Commandments." Notably, these were not the actual "Ten Commandments" identified in the Bible (Exodus 34:17–26), and the commonly quoted versions (Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:7–21) even disagree on key points — such as the rationale for keeping the Sabbath holy (compare Exodus 20:8–11 with Deuteronomy 5:12–15). The biblical texts appear to be a conflation of multiple, inconsistent traditions regarding what was supposedly inscribed on the tablets kept in the Ark of the Covenant.
The more significant issue here is that this legislation represents yet another attempt to undermine Jefferson’s wall of separation and establish a de facto Christian supremacy in civic life. It aligns with the goals of Christian Dominionists, who openly advocate for a theocratic society governed by their interpretation of biblical law. This vision bears disturbing similarities to the authoritarian religiosity of the Taliban and finds support from institutions like the Discovery Institute, which seeks to replace evidence-based science with Christian dogma across American education and public discourse. Their aim is to promote religious claims that are insulated from evidentiary scrutiny.
The Louisiana mandate enjoyed support from prominent Republicans, including Donald Trump, who continues to court the Christian far right. The question now is whether the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will accept the case. If it does, the ruling will serve as a litmus test for the current Court’s ideological direction. Will it uphold the 1980 precedent that blocked a similar attempt in Kentucky, or will it bend to the influence of recent Trump-appointed justices and allow religious coercion to creep further into public life?
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Ten Reasons To Lose Faith: And Why You Are Better Off Without It
This book explains why faith is a fallacy and serves no useful purpose other than providing an excuse for pretending to know things that are unknown. It also explains how losing faith liberates former sufferers from fear, delusion and the control of others, freeing them to see the world in a different light, to recognise the injustices that religions cause and to accept people for who they are, not which group they happened to be born in. A society based on atheist, Humanist principles would be a less divided, more inclusive, more peaceful society and one more appreciative of the one opportunity that life gives us to enjoy and wonder at the world we live in.
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