As millions of children return to classrooms this fall, parents are aware of a profound truth: While they remain the primary educators of their children, a strong partnership with schools is essential for shaping both intellect and character. 

The lessons children encounter at school do more than convey information — they help form habits of mind and heart that endure. That is why laws in states like Louisiana and Texas, requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms, matter so much. They signal that education is not just about skills, but about cultivating respect for enduring moral truths.

The American Civil Liberties Union, representing a handful of residents, challenged these laws on the grounds that they violate both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Last week, a federal district court in Texas agreed and, relying on outdated precedent, halted that state’s law from going into effect. Meanwhile, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals similarly struck down Louisiana’s version. In both cases, the courts got it wrong.

I produced a short video and filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Conscience Project and professor Mark David Hall in the Louisiana case, Roake v. Brumley, that explains why such displays are not only consistent with the Constitution’s history and tradition but also necessary to avoid hostility toward religion. The 5th Circuit has been asked to rehear the case en banc — that is, before all of the judges of the court rather than a three-judge panel. At the same time, Texas has pledged to appeal the ruling against its law.

The entire 5th Circuit should take up the issue and affirm the constitutionality of these laws. And if the court fails to do so, the Supreme Court should step in to clean up its religious-freedom jurisprudence.

Opponents of the laws make several claims, including that the text being used is a “Protestant” version of the Commandments and therefore unlawfully discriminates among faiths. That argument is a red herring. The language selected is the same text the Supreme Court upheld in Van Orden v. Perry, when it permitted a monument displaying the Ten Commandments on the Texas Capitol grounds. This situation is also nothing like Wisconsin’s unconstitutional policy of giving unemployment-insurance exemptions only to certain kinds of faith-based charities. In that case, the state favored groups that proselytize or serve only co-religionists while excluding Catholic Charities of Superior. By contrast, posting the Commandments in classrooms does not elevate one denomination over another. As Catholics, we understand that while translations and even numbering systems vary, none of these differences presents a serious religious offense.

The rulings against Louisiana and Texas also lean heavily on Stone v. Graham, in which the court struck down a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The Supreme Court’s reasoning there rested entirely on the Lemon test, which asked whether a law had a “secular purpose,” whether its primary effect advanced or inhibited religion, and whether it excessively entangled government with religion. That test has since been rejected as “ahistorical and unworkable.” 

As the Supreme Court made clear in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Establishment Clause cases must be evaluated in light of our nation’s history and tradition. That approach — rather than Lemon — reflects the reality that religion has always had a visible role in American civic life. 

The Ten Commandments are not an exotic religious text imposed on unsuspecting students. They are part of the very foundation of Western law. Courts, legislatures and monuments across the country recognize their significance. In fact, the Supreme Court building itself displays Moses holding the tablets of the Law. 

Critics also claim that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms amounts to forcing religion on schoolchildren. This is simply not true. The Louisiana and Texas laws require only that the text be posted. No child is forced to read, recite or believe it. Contrast this with recent efforts at what can only be described as ideological indoctrination. 

Public schools across the country have introduced mandatory lessons and activities promoting controversial views on sexuality and gender identity. These initiatives cross the line from proposing ideas to imposing them on students, often in ways that conflict with the convictions of families. Thankfully, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court recently pushed back against one such program that denied religious parents the right to opt out their very young children from exposure to a collection of sexually explicit, “LGBTQ+-inclusive” storybooks.

The Ten Commandments displays are nothing like that. They do not coerce, they do not punish dissent, and they do not demand affirmation. They simply acknowledge that timeless truths about our duties to God and to one another are part of our shared heritage. To exclude the Ten Commandments from classrooms simply because they are religious is not neutrality but hostility. Government should not force religion on anyone, but neither should it erase religion from public life.

The 5th Circuit should rehear the Louisiana case en banc and issue a course correction. By doing so, the court would not only uphold the constitutionality of these displays but also send an important message: The Constitution does not require a purge of all things with a religious pedigree from public spaces, something that should be even more obvious in the context of foundations of Western civilization or secular law. And if that court fails to act, the Supreme Court should grant review and settle the issue once and for all.

Parents send their children to public schools knowing that the environment will not always reflect their family’s faith. But parents should not have to worry that schools will actively suppress or disparage that faith. Posting the Ten Commandments does not convert a classroom into a church. It simply acknowledges the role of faith in shaping our civilization and encourages students to think about the deeper meaning of law and morality.