The legislation that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law, requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.

“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses” who got the commandments from God, Landry said.

Opponents questioned the law’s constitutionality and vowed to challenge it in court. Proponents said the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government.”

The posters, which will be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries,” must be in place in classrooms by the start of 2025.

Under the law, state funds will not be used to implement the mandate. The posters would be paid for through donations.

Not long after the governor signed the bill into law at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette, civil rights groups and organizations that want to keep religion out of government promised to file a lawsuit challenging it.

The law prevents students from getting an equal education and will keep children who have different beliefs from feeling safe at school, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation said in a joint statement.

“Even among those who may believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the particular text that they adhere to can differ by religious denomination or tradition. The government should not be taking sides in this theological debate,” the groups said.

The controversial law, in a state ensconced in the Bible Belt, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. The GOP holds a supermajority in the Legislature, and Republicans hold every statewide elected position, paving the way for lawmakers to push through a conservative agenda.

Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, no state besides Louisiana has succeeded in making the bills law.

Source: The Associated Press

Michaela Community School, frequently referred to as “Britain’s strictest”, is facing a High Court challenge from a pupil over a policy banning prayer rituals.

The free school in Wembley, north London, is subject to a judicial review over the policy, brought by an affected Muslim pupil who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard that about 30 pupils started praying in the playground over a six-day period in March and used blazers to kneel on after they were “prohibited” from using prayer mats.

The school, where around half of its 700 pupils are Muslim, does not have a specific prayer room.

The ban decision was made by headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh, the former government social mobility commissioner, on March 27 last year and was later “remade” by the school’s governing body in May.

In the legal action against the free school’s governing body, the Michaela Community Schools Trust, the student claimed the decision breached her right to freedom of religion.

The pupil told the court the rule had “fundamentally changed” how she feels “about being a Muslim in this country”.

She described the ban as “like somebody saying they don’t feel like I properly belong here”, the hearing was told.

Representing the student, Sarah Hannett KC told the court about half of the schools roughly 700 pupils were Muslim and the policy had the “practical effect of only preventing Muslims from praying, because their prayer by nature has a ritualized nature rather than being internal”.

Jason Coppel KC, representing the school trust, is due to set out the school’s full defence to the legal challenge later on Wednesday.

A ruling is expected at a later date.

The school, opposite Wembley Park station, has been referred to as one of Britain’s strictest with Ms Birbalsingh’s controversial comments and teaching methods making headlines in the past.

Source: BBC