On May 28, the Louisiana Legislature passed a new law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom, becoming the first state to do so. Gov. Jeff Landry signed the legislation last Wednesday, saying, “[I]f you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”
This marks a significant step in the Right’s push to bring religion back into the public square. It is a welcome departure from the neutral, defensive crouch of “religious liberty” that conservatives have favored for the past few decades.
Some religious leaders and even some conservatives have been openly critical of the Louisiana law. Such critics often appeal to the idea of “separation of church and state” to condemn any public display of religious texts, symbols, and iconography.
For instance, the senior pastor at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Marc…
