Lori Falce: Louisiana and the lessons of the Ten Commandments

I went to a Catholic school.

We prayed in class at the start of the day, before each class, before lunch, after lunch and at the end of the day. And that was just your random Monday. On a holy day of obligation or the first Friday of each month, we would also go to Mass. Then there would be Stations of the Cross during Lent and additional observances during Advent. Plus we had religion class on top of all that.

And yet, despite our parents opting for us to have a religious education, our classrooms were filled with textbooks and maps.

They did not include a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall.

It puzzles me that my Pennsylvania parochial school full of nuns and priests where we went to church at least twice a month would now be deemed lacking according to the demands of a public school— at least in the eyes of the state of Louisiana.

On Wednesday, the state’s governor signed into law a requirement that every public school classroom — from kindergarten through a graduate college program — must display the Ten Commandments in large and easy-to-read letters.

Did I miss something by not having a poster admonishing me with passages from Exodus? Did my math suffer? What about my reading comprehension? Did it make it harder for me to understand gravity or ancient Greece or the food pyramid?

It did not. And that was in a religious school where the Ten Commandments would have made as much sense as the crucifix that hung over the chalkboard or the rosary Sister Francesca had draped at her waist.

In a public school, the Ten Commandments would be confusing — especially for students old enough to be learning about history and government and the separation of church and state.

The First Amendment clearly spells out that the government cannot establish an official state religion. The First Commandment says “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” There are obvious conflicts there.

The First Amendment likewise protects free speech. The Third Commandment forbids taking the Lord’s name in vain.

The Louisiana law is almost sure to end up in court — and may go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court at that. It will not be the first time that a Ten Commandments presentation has traveled that controversial road.

Until now, the most prominent case has been in Alabama when the chief justice was removed from office for his defiance of a federal order to remove a 5,000-pound granite Ten Commandments monument in 2003. That monument was displayed at the Alabama judicial building.

Louisiana has 1,303 public schools and 33 public colleges. Multiply that by all of the classrooms and the Pelican State’s challenge of federal law is much more aggressive and is unlikely to be overlooked by the nation’s highest court. However, with the bench’s current conservative majority, the decision may be very different than that of a federal judge 21 years ago.

But in my opinion, the best way to promote the following of the Ten Commandments remains the way it was in my Catholic school back in the day. Read the Bible when it is time to read the Bible — and live your faith as an example rather than using it as a club.