Governor Jeff Landry could soon sign a bill that would make Louisiana the first state to require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
On Thursday, the measure, House Bill 71, passed the Senate in a 30 to 8 vote. Senator Royce Duplessis argued against it in that hearing.
“It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen,” he said. “I think we are going to likely lose in court.”
According to Duplessis, it’s only a matter of time before someone sues the state if the governor signs the bill into law.
“That’s why we have a separation of church and state,” said Duplessis. “We learned the 10 commandments when we went to Sunday school. As I said on the Senate floor, if you want your kids to learn the Ten Commandments, you can take them to church.”
House Representative Dodie Horton is the author of the bill. In April, she defended it before the House, saying the commandments are the basis of all laws in Louisiana.
“I hope and I pray that Louisiana is the first state to allow moral code to be placed back in the classrooms,” she said. “Since I was in kindergarten [at a private school], it was always on the wall. I learned there was a god, and I knew to honor him and his laws.”
