Alabama could require public schools to display Ten Commandments

Alabama lawmakers have approved a series of bills that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments, ban LGBT pride flags and prohibit school employees from using pronouns that don’t align with students’ sex. 

The Alabama House of Representatives passed the bills on Thursday, with House Bill 178 passing the chamber in an 88-11 vote. The bill would mandate that K-12 public schools display the Ten Commandments in an entryway or in common areas like cafeterias and classrooms where U.S. history is taught.

According to the bill, no local board of education is required to use its funds to comply with the mandate, and the bill states that it can accept donations. 

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On the same day that the state House approved the Ten Commandments measure, lawmakers also passed House Bill 244, which would prohibit classroom instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation in public school prekindergarten through the twelfth grade. The bill would also prohibit teachers from displaying LGBT pride flags and using “pronouns inconsistent with a student’s biological sex.” 

Lawmakers also passed House Bill 67, prohibiting public schools or libraries from hosting drag performances. The bill would also forbid certain state entities from allowing minors to share facilities with members of the opposite sex during overnight programs unless the individual is a relative and the child has received permission from a parent or legal guardian. 

All three bills are currently awaiting approval from the state Senate. 

Republican Rep. Mark Gidley, House Bill 178’s sponsor and a former pastor at Faith Worship Center, said in a Thursday statement that the Ten Commandments are historical, arguing that the bill does not promote one religion over another. 

“This is about returning foundational principles to schools to be taught,” the bill’s sponsor said. 

In addition to requiring that displays of the Ten Commandments be at least 11-by-14 inches in size, House Bill 178 mandates that schools include text that explains how they shaped Western civilization. 

“The Ten Commandments are a key part of the Judeo-Christian religious and moral tradition that shaped Western Civilization and ultimately the founding of the United States,” the bill’s text states.

“In particular, because they include what John Quincy Adams described as both ‘civil and municipal’ provisions as well as ‘moral and religious’ provisions, the Ten Commandments have historical significance as one of the foundations of our legal system,” the document reads. “Teaching students about the Ten Commandments promotes historical understanding and helps to foster a common cultural heritage and awareness.” 

The left-leaning advocacy group American Civil Liberties Union argued in a statement against the bill requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments that such a mandate is “unconstitutional — plain and simple.” 

“The First Amendment guarantees that students and their families — not politicians or the government — get to decide which religious beliefs, if any, they adopt and what role those beliefs will play in their lives,” the ACLU stated. “Displaying the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms blatantly violates this promise. Students can’t focus on learning if they don’t feel safe and welcome in their schools.”

The one Democrat who supported the legislation, Rep. Patrick Sellers, agreed that the Ten Commandments teach values that students should learn in school. Sellers, who served as pastor at both Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church and the Cathedral of Faith Baptist Church, believes that reminding children of these principles can provide them with something that has been “missing” in their lives. 

“These are principles that our children need, and even if it’s just looking at it on the wall to remind them of what they are and how they should live from day to day,” Sellers said in a Thursday statement on the House floor. “That’s what’s missing in our schools. That’s what’s missing in our homes, that’s what’s missing in our families.”

Alabama is among several states considering legislation to require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

This month, Arkansas’ Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Senate Bill 433 into law. The bill requires all classrooms and libraries in K-12 public schools, postsecondary institutions and state buildings maintained by taxpayer funds to display a poster or framed copy of The Ten Commandments. In addition, the bill requires these entities to display a poster or framed copy of the U.S. national motto, “In God We Trust.”

Last year, Louisiana became the first state to require a Ten Commandments display in public school classrooms, a law that was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court in November.