Idaho bill would require Ten Commandments display in schools in test of U.S. Constitution

BOISE – A new bill in the Idaho Legislature would require all public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

The proposal marks an effort from Christian Republican lawmakers in the state to push religion into the public sphere, testing the bounds of the Constitution and the country’s separation of church and state.

Another bill introduced this session would require Bible verse readings in all public schools.

The Ten Commandments bill would require schools to display the Old Testament’s Ten Commandments on a poster board. Those schools that do not would be required to accept “any offer” of a poster donated by a private group that amounts to the same display.

If a school receives more donated copies of the Ten Commandments from private groups, it would have to display the other posters “in conspicuous places in the classrooms of the educational institution,” according to the bill introduced Friday by Rep. Faye Thompson, R-McCall, and Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls.

If passed into law, the bill is almost certain to face legal challenges. A federal judge called a similar law in Louisiana “unconstitutional on its face,” and preliminarily prevented it from taking effect in school districts not part of an ongoing lawsuit, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.

The Ten Commandments are a set of ethical directives from the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, that the text indicates were revealed to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. They include affirmation that the Judeo-Christian God is the only God; a requirement to not speak God’s name in vain; and prohibitions on killing, adultery and coveting a neighbor’s spouse or belongings.

Idaho Democrats decried the bill on Friday.

“Taxpayers are tired of GOP politicians flouting the Constitution to score points in closed Republican primaries,” House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said in an emailed statement. “Schools are places of learning, not places to marginalize children who are religious minorities.

“Haven’t we paid enough defending losing lawsuits arising from bills like this?”