FILE - A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway of the Georgia Capitol, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Atlanta. Christians and Jews believe in the Ten Commandments — just not necessarily the version that will hang in every public school and state-funded college classroom in Louisiana.
It’s also part of a bigger picture. The new law signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on June 19 is not only part of a wave of efforts by GOP-led states to targetJackie Clarkson, longtime New Orleans politician and mother of actor Patricia Clarkson, dead at 88Oklahoma “This isn’t about uniting the people of state; it’s about trying to divide them with a culture war issue that he thinks will win his side votes.”The Ten Commandments come from Jewish and Christian Scripture, which says there are 10 of them but doesn’t number them specifically. Catholics, Jews and Protestants typically order them differently, and the phrasing can change depending on which Bible translation is used or what part of Scripture they are pulled from.
The version in the Louisiana law matches the wording on the Ten Commandments monolith that stands outside of the Texas State Capitol in Austin. It was given to the state in 1961 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a more than 125-year-old, Ohio-based service organization with thousands of members. In 2005, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled it did not violate the constitution and could stay.that it distributed about 10,000 Ten Commandments plaques in 1954.
“What it is really symbolizing is an evangelical Christian stamp on the space,” he said. “It is less about the ideas and more about its use as a symbol, a totem, that marks territory for a particular religious tradition.” For Benjamin Marsh, a North Carolina pastor watching the Louisiana law, his primary concern is people’s spiritual formation so altering the Ten Commandments is worrisome to him.