The recent passing of Senate Bill 433 brought up a memory from the past. On the morning after September 11, 2001, I remember saying the pledge of allegiance and hearing voices crack including mine. Then came the moment of silence. It was meaningful and I understood that some children cried softly. If a verbal prayer had been led by someone in authority, that moment would have been lost. Religion wasn’t forced, but it was allowed. That’s as it should be in the United States. If a child wants to bring his Bible (or another sacred scripture) to school, or pray quietly, that’s permitted in public schools.

Senate Bill 433 requires the display of our National Motto (In God We Trust) and The Ten Commandments in all Arkansas public school classrooms. This text must be on a “durable poster.” The motto poster must be “at least 11×14 inches.” The Ten Commandments must be displayed on a poster or in a frame of “at least 16×20 inches.” The specifics of size and font size seemed a little over the top but I’m sure they worried that some would place the ten commandments on a post-it note. Then the law appears to require that the text be displayed in the King James Version, a translation that many readers (including me) avoid. The law specifies “the Ten Commandments shall read as follows:”

“The Ten Commandments

I am the Lord thy God.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land

which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his

maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

No scripture reference is included which seemed odd. Might an inquisitive child wonder where these old English texts came from or why “the ten commandments” appear in two separate Hebrew Bible scrolls but with different wording?

I did some searching and most posters were from $10-20. I did not find a poster with the exact wording as given in this law but I’m sure they can be found or made. 

As someone who appreciates the study of religious texts, I am troubled by the notion of compulsory displays of religious text in public educational settings. Such mandates may foster resentment rather than reverence and can serve to alienate those of different faiths or no faith at all. 

Now we’ll watch our state waste resources and lawyering on lawsuits that will be generated by this arguably unconstitutional law. All of this is so unnecessary. 

Link to the Senate Bill: https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/86/5b/f4e05f594a1f981d511d467b6789/sb433.pdf

For further reading: Steven Kurtz’s Substack: Should We Display the Ten Commandments?