Tennessee Senate passes bill making schools put up Ten Commandments [View all]

Source: man/The Independent

12h


The Tennessee Senate on Thursday passed a bill requiring public schools to display copies of the Ten Commandments in a “prominent” place alongside historical documents such as the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Critics said the bill inappropriately mixes church and state.

“Our children need to be learning about reading, writing, arithmetic, science, tech to get them ready to be a world-class generation of kids who can push this country forward, not be indoctrinated to what the Bible says here and there,” Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis-area Democrat, said during floor debate. “That is the responsibility of the church, their parents, their families and whatever private entities they want to engage with in order to receive the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro, of Nashville, said legislators should spend more time trying to follow the commandments themselves and warned the bill, which passed 27 to 6, would prompt costly legal battles. “It’s inevitable that taxpayers will end up paying for litigation,” he said at a press conference.

“Our Constitution’s promise of church-state separation means that families – not politicians – get to decide if, when and how children engage with religion,” Rachel Laser, CEO of the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told The Independent in a statement. “Ten Commandments displays in public schools are clearly unconstitutional and a violation of families’ religious freedom.” The group is urging Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to reject the legislation.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/news/tennessee-senate-passes-bill-making-schools-put-up-ten-commandments/ar-AA1Z5ioD