Montana Bill Mandates Schools Display Ten Commandments
"We need to put God back in our country"
A Montana state senator introduced a bill requiring schools to have a display of the Ten Commandments in each classroom and school building.
“The Ten Commandments must be displayed on a poster or framed document that is a minimum size of 11 inches by 14 inches. The text of the Ten Commandments must be the central focus of the poster or framed document and must be printed in a large, easily readable font,” Senate Bill (SB) 114 says.
State Senator Bob Phalen (R-Glendive) introduced this bill on January 10.
“We have gotten away from God since 1962,” Phalen told The Montana Chronicles this week. “They took prayer out of school.”
“We need to put God back in our country,” he added.
The Supreme Court ruled in Engel v. Vitale that prayer in public schools violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
The Establishment Clause refers to the part of the First Amendment that says, “Congress cannot pass laws that establish a religion.”
Before this ruling, it was commonplace for American public schools to start the school day off with a prayer or Bible reading.
Phalen told The Chronicles that kids “need a moral compass” due to public schools inundating them with LGBTQ and woke agendas.
“They need to have another alternative,” he said.
Phalen said kids can read it or walk by it if they want to.
Furthermore, the state senator said teachers don’t have to discuss the Ten Commandments.
SB 114 doesn’t require classroom discussion about the Ten Commandments.
Phalen added that if teachers talk negatively about the Ten Commandments, then that is “on their conscience.”
“The Bible says the commandments are written on your heart,” the state senator said. “This plaque, it'll just reinforce what's already in the person.”
Phalen was referring to Hebrews chapter 8, verse 10:
“But this is the covenant I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them upon their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
In 2024, Louisiana passed a bill that required classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, but a federal judge blocked this bill, saying it was “unconstitutional.”
The same year, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said all state schools needed to incorporate the Bible and Ten Commandments into their curriculum.
In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham that posting a copy of the Ten Commandments in each public school classroom violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
The hearing for SB 114 will occur on January 31.
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Zachery Schmidt is the founder of The Montana Chronicles. If you have any tips, please send them to montanachronicles@proton.me.