Governor Signs Bill Requiring Shariah Law to Be Posted in Public Classrooms

If this was today's headline in Louisiana, how would Christians respond?

For those who haven’t opened a single tab this today, let me give you the scary, bad news: Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) signed a bill on Wednesday requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. Constitutional violations aside (we’ll get to that in a minute), this is an egregious abuse of money in a state that can spare precious little.

Based on my most conservative estimates, these posters will cost $400,000. Add shipping, protective frames, and hours of (misused) labor, and you’re looking at closer to a million.

When Louisiana teachers can barely keep pencils in the hands of their failing students, how can Governor Landry justify this appropriation of much-needed funds?

If this all sounds gross, get ready to vomit because months before passing this bill, Landry declined 71 million dollars in federal funding. What for? Glad you asked, because those dollars were intended to feed hungry school-aged throughout the summer. Snatching literal food out of the mouths of babes, the Good Governor cited the need for “self-sufficiency in the state’s school system”.

What would Jesus do, and all that jazz.

Clearly, He’d print up some posters!

It should surprise nobody that laws like this continue to originate in states where public education is struggling (which is completely by design, by the way, as these states continue to reject federal funding).

Educationally, Louisiana is chillin in the basement, ranked 47th in the country. As of 2023, a whopping thirty percent of fourth graders in Louisiana are unable to read. Eighty percent of the state’s middle schoolers are struggling with basic math. The governor acknowledged this crisis yesterday, stating at his big, fancy press conference, “Our children are failing again and again in comparison to other states around us.”

Perhaps the good governor is hoping this bill will help students master counting to ten?

Nope.

Landry knows that the law won't stand—he even said, “I can’t wait to be sued!” What this governor wants is a fistful of power, and he knows damn well how to get it. It’s an election year, and a big one, too. Landry is raising his profile. The established pipeline to a Trump cabinet position begins with a Fox News feature.

Just watch over the next few weeks as this governor sits back on his loins while tax payers in Louisiana foot the exorbitant cost of a unwinnable fight with SCOTUS.

This has nothing to do with a love of country, and even less to do with faith. Christian Nationalism is just a vessel for people like Governor Landry. They use “Jesus” and “patriotism” as political buzz words to whip constituents into a frenzy.

What’s scary is just how effective these tactics can be on an educationally suppressed populace. (Remember what I said about red states intentionally pushing public schools into failure? Look at the numbers on who that benefits. Facts don’t lie, but politicians sure do.)

What conservative Aunt Betty doesn’t seem to realize while she’s commenting “amen” under headlines, is just how quickly this religious tide can rise up and swallow her whole.

Louisiana Governor Signs Bill Requiring Shariah Law to Be Posted in All Public Classrooms

Imagine if this was today's big headline. How would the Christians respond, then? Would Aunt Betty still be throwing up praise hand emojis in the name of Jesus?

…I dunno. Somehow, I doubt it.

You see, this right here is the height of hypocrisy, and it’s also how democracy dies. When we crack the door open to religious legislation, we don’t get to choose what gets in. Our founding fathers knew this well, as they escaped an oppressive theocracy.

Which is why our constitution enshrines a secular government in the very First Amendment. This amendment has two provisions concerning religion: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. One which protects the American people from a government-established religion, and the other which guarantees the government will never show favor to a religion. These clauses have been upheld for centuries by multiple Supreme Court rulings.

Why are we all of the sudden celebrating that Landry is poking that bear? What exactly is the end game for Christian voters if this bill is ultimately upheld?

Do y’all have a consensus of which version of Christianity we’ll allow to step in and keep power? There are 40,000 denominations within our faith alone, and to be frank, they are WILDLY different. Will it be the Joel Olsteens? The Westboro Baptists? The Greg Lockes? The Franklin Grahams?

Crack open a history book, literally any of them, and read how theocracy pans out. When it comes down to who is interpreting scripture, the difference between freedom and oppression is quite literally paper thin.

If America were to become a Christian nation, and our religion becomes codified law, who is to say what’s defined as “Christlike”?

Will women be able to talk in church? In public? Be forced into exile when we’re on our periods?

Let’s say the Ten Commandments are indeed allowed to be posted in public schools. Imagine school children, eager to learn, walking in on the first day of school. The very first thing those babies will see is a mandate that doesn't belong there:

“You shall have no other Gods before me”.

Muslim students, Jewish students, Native American students, students from a non religious background—-all receiving tax-funded message of Christian evangelism. This is an affront to our sacred freedom from a government-sponsored faith.

It infuriates me that in the name of Jesus, we are stripping these children of agency. As if tacking some posters up on a wall is somehow sharing the Gospel. I’ve got news for these conservative politicians who hide behind Christian values. This is the meaning of blasphemy. Of taking the Lord’s name in vain. Using religion for political gain is the most disgusting way to grab power.

And what’s crazy, is Jesus didn’t ask y’all for this. He didn’t ask for your shitty publicity. His name, His message is globally known. If kids want to know Jesus, they’ll tell you. The Ten Commandments can still go to class, because America is still a free country. Your children can carry their personal Bible or keep scripture inside of their heart.

No Christian who knows the true love of Jesus would ever resort to these tactics. If you can’t win hearts with your own changed lives, then what exactly are you trying to sell others?

The cornerstone of Christianity faith is freedom—to choose or reject the Gospel. Sharing Jesus is about sharing His love—not hammering rules to a wall.

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s—Christ didn’t ask us to impose morality. He didn’t ask us to religiously rule. He called us to serve, and to love others well.

And, He called us to feed the hungry.

(Governor Landry, you should especially write that one down.)

History has a tendency of repeating itself, and what’s happening in America ain’t new. For a country that’s hardly three centuries old, we’ve sure got a case of amnesia. When religion puts democracy under a choke hold, it isn’t Evil that dies.

Freedom will suffocate, slowly and softly.

While everyone says amen.