Indiana Republican lawmakers have advanced legislation concerning the Ten Commandments in public schools.
The watered-down version approved by the House Education Committee on a party-line vote would allow the display of the Ten Commandments, at the request of a teacher or principal.
The display would not be required.
A copy of the Ten Commandments would be required to be available in school libraries, as a historical document, like the Declaration of Independence.
“The Ten Commandments cannot be read by a teacher or a principal while the students are present,” said the sponsor, Republican State Representative Michelle Davis.
The legislation, as originally written, would have required that the Ten Commandments be displayed.
Courts have found that to be unconstitutional.
The committee heard testimony from several people, including Timothy Huggins, a citizen speaking in support.
“The Ten Commandments need to he honored as a historical document,” Huggins told lawmakers. “Without the basis of the Ten Commandments, we would not have a Declaration of Independence, we would not have a US Constitution.”
Zachary Parish, with the Secular Education Association, also testified.
“I find it interesting that we’re here discussing the historical significance of a document that was dictated by a supernatural voice to a man who heard voices from burning bushes earlier in his life,” he said.
Parish said the legislation is part of an agenda to further religious intrusion into the public education system.
“Making the language permissive instead of mandatory is also not a compromise. All this change has done is shift the liability to the schools instead of the state when the lawsuits come, and the lawsuits will come.”
He added that “the debate around the Ten Commandments and public schools has been long settled, with courts time and time again reaffirming that they have no place in public schools.”