In Iran there are between 1-2 zillion signs denouncing the United States as the Great Satan. A common epithet is “Death to America.” For decades, Persians have been bombarded with these signs from the Iranian theocrats who govern the country. One might think that after such an extensive delivery of the message that the result would be a population that had absorbed the message that surrounded them everywhere.
Quite the opposite occurred. If Persians could vote with their feet only about 20% of the population would be left in the country. As it is there is a Persian diaspora in the United States. Persians want to visit the United States, study in the United States, and, of course, experience American soft power. So much for the brain-washing efforts of the Iranian theocrats.
Then again there is the example of North Korea. In that instance virtually all contact with the outside world is restricted. Such a limitation is not true in Putin’s Russia or Iran. Nor would it be true in an American classroom where students have multiple access to additional sources of information often much to the dismay of parents.
Still MAGA persists in its effort to brain wash American students by supporting the placement of the Ten Commandments in each and every classroom.
TEACHING THE BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The blog from July 7, 2024, was based not on the Ten Commandments in the classroom but the Bible itself.
As of June 27, the Oklahoma state superintendent of public instruction now requires all public schools to teach the Bible in grades 5-12. The decree is not directed to home school, private voucher schools, and parochial schools presumably because they already teach the Bible! He expects “immediate and strict compliance” to this new policy (see “Oklahoma Moves to Require Teaching the Bible in Public Schools,” (NYT June 28, 2024, front page and “In Culture War Volley, Oklahoma Tests Limits of Bibles in Its Schools, NYT July 1, 2024 print).
As part of that blog, I focused on the Ten Commandments. Specifically, the Pilgrims and their familiarity with the concept of the contact or covenant in their government.
The Massachusetts magistrates took the next step and sought a legal code for governing the new Puritan colony founded in 1630, ten years after the Plymouth Bay colony in 1620 and around the same time Puritan New Haven Colony was formed. They wanted a legal code based on the Bible which could serve as the legal code of the colony.
In 1636, Reverend John Cotton produced such as document. It was published in 1642 as An Abstract of the Lawes of New England. Since Cotton’s opus rested on the Bible, John Winthrop called it “a model of Moses his judicials.” Massachusetts never formally adopted this biblical-based law code for the colony. By contrast it remained the legal foundation for New Haven until 1662 when the Cromwell-supporting colony was absorbed by Connecticut.
These earlier colonial efforts represented the most significant effort to make the Bible, especially the Pentateuch, the law of the land. It should be noted that there are 613 laws within the Five Books of Moses, a number which far exceeds the mere ten of the Ten Commandments. Many of them are from the Book of Deuteronomy.
For more on this subject see this series of articles:
Gordon Schochet, “Introduction: Hebraic Roots, Calvinist Plantings, American Branches,” Hebraic Political Studies 4:2 2009:99-103.
Glenn Moots, “Response: The Complications and Contributions of Early American Hebraism,”
Hebraic Political Studies 4:2 2009:157-168.
Shira Wolosky, “Biblical Republicanism: John Cotton’s ‘Moses His Judicials’ and American Hebraism,’” Hebraic Political Studies 4:2 2009:104-127.
Andrew Murphy, “New Israel in New England: The American Jeremiad and the Hebrew Scriptures,” Hebraic Political Studies 4:2 2009:128-156.
Questions I raised included: How or will this effort into biblical law as political law be taught? How will teachers be trained in this part of American history? How will the curriculum be changed?
TEXAS AND LOUISIANA
Two states have acted on the same issue with reporting on June 21, 2025.
Texas governor signs bill requiring Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms (AP)
Abbott also signed a bill that allows school districts to provide students and staff a daily voluntary period of prayer or time to read a religious text during school hours.
The Ten Commandments laws are among efforts, mainly in conservative-led states, to insert religion into public schools.
Texas’ law requires public schools to post in classrooms a 16-by-20-inch (41-by-51-centimeter) poster or framed copy of a specific English version of the commandments, even though translations and interpretations vary across denominations, faiths and languages and may differ in homes and houses of worship.
Supporters say the Ten Commandments are part of the foundation of the United States’ judicial and educational systems and should be displayed.
Opponents, including some Christian and other faith leaders, say the Ten Commandments and prayer measures infringe on others’ religious freedom.
Court blocks Louisiana law requiring schools to post Ten Commandments in classrooms (AP)
A panel of three federal appellate judges has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each of the state’s public school classrooms is unconstitutional.
The ruling Friday marked a major win for civil liberties groups who say the mandate violates the separation of church and state, and that the poster-sized displays would isolate students — especially those who are not Christian.
The mandate has been touted by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, and marks one of the latest pushes by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. Backers of the law argue the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because they are historical and part of the foundation of US law.
“This is a resounding victory for the separation of church and state and public education,” said Heather L. Weaver, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “With today’s ruling, the Fifth Circuit has held Louisiana accountable to a core constitutional promise: Public schools are not Sunday schools, and they must welcome all students, regardless of faith.”
The plaintiffs’ attorneys and Louisiana disagreed on whether the appeals court’s decision applied to every public school district in the state or only the districts party to the lawsuit.
By perhaps no coincidence whatsoever, the recent death of television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart occurred in the immediate aftermath of these legal developments. He, of course, was very familiar with the Ten Commandments. Shades of King David! He confessed his sin. So what happens if a student looking at the Ten Commandments declares “Thou art the man!” about the convicted liar and adulterer today?
Certainly there are legal issues to be raised about the separation of church and state. Also after the Puritans, the Ten Commandments themselves had little role in the legal development of the United States. On the other hand, the concept of covenant and Constitution did. Perhaps a Constitution should be prominently displayed in every classroom instead just as an American flag once was (still is?) to instill patriotism along with the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.
