Mississippi May Mandate Ten Commandments and Pledges to State, U.S. Flags in Schools

[Mariana]

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/jan/17/mississippi-may-mandate-ten-commandments-and-pledg/

State Rep. Credell Calhoun, D-Jackson, introduced House Bill 427, which would amend the Mississippi Constitution to mandate that public-school teachers and principals must display the Ten Commandments. It would require that school officials display the religious laws "on an appropriately framed background with minimum dimensions" of 11x14 inches in all classrooms, auditoriums, and cafeterias, alongside the motto, "In God We Trust."

Students would have to recite all 10 commandments within the first hour of class each morning. Any teacher or student who objects to reciting it would be excused "without penalty" from reciting the pledge.

Calhoun is a Missionary Baptist who sits on the House Education Committee. He introduced a similar bill last year, but it died in committee.

#In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court found that a Kentucky state law requiring public schools post the Ten Commandments in classrooms violated the Constitution's Establishment Clause and "served no secular purpose." Calhoun's bill goes further than that law by also requiring teachers to lead students in reciting it.

Remember, folks, this targeting of public school students for forced religious indoctrination, in direct violation of the law, is no worse than buying an ad on a bus that says, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

[Downtown Hound]

1. Yet they vote for a traitor like Trump

Who needs real patriotism when you can fake it?

[uriel1972]

2. Ah, which set...

There are three set of commandments that are ten in number only one of which is called 'The Ten Commandments'.

However it is mostly concerned with rituals and such not the "Thou shalt not Murder" kind of stuff featured in the other two sets of commandments... ten in number. This could be a subtle ploy by Atheists to open the minds of young people to the difficulties in taking the Bible at face value.

Or maybe not.

[Mariana]

10. Calhoun is a Baptist, so I guess it would be that one. nt.

[VMA131Marine]

3. And the person who introduced the bill is a Democrat! Ugh!

[uriel1972]

4. A very big tent it seems...

[VMA131Marine]

5. And then a Republican tries to out do him

Republican Bill Goes Further

#While Calhoun's bill does not suggest a fine for non-compliance, another a bill authored by State Rep. William Shirley, R-Quitman, would impose a fine.

#Shirley's bill, House Bill 172, would impose $1,500 fines on schools for instances in which they do not require teachers to have their classrooms recite the Pledge of Allegiance within the first hour of class.

#Like Calhoun's bill, Shirley's bill allows for students who object to excuse themselves from reciting the pledge.

[uriel1972]

6. This is so wrong...

just so wrong...

[MineralMan]

7. Many bills are introduced. Fewer pass.

This one won't pass. If it did, it would be thrown out by the first Federal Court to hear the case.

But it won't. Stories about bills being introduced that are stupid, unconstitutional, and unlikely to pass aren't worth sharing, I think.

Calhoun's bill probably won't even reach the MS House floor.

[Mariana]

11. I know.

I'm supporting an assertion that I've made many times in this group, that religious legislators at every level of government are constantly working to try to use the power of the government to force their religious beliefs on others. The low success rate of such bills isn't relevant in that context.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. If I were a teacher in such a school, I would be sorely tempted...

to post the commandments in the original Hebrew.

[trotsky]

9. Those damn proselytizing atheists are the real problem!!!

[msongs]

12. one wonders why MI is at the bottom of the pile on so many issues nt

[Jake Stern]

13. While Michigan has it's share of fundie whack-a-loons

The postal abbreviation for Mississippi is "MS".

[struggle4progress]

14. Whoa! I had an idea! Why not amend the Mississippi constitution to mandate

that all students obtain an excellent education in the arts and in the sciences, using well-paid and highly qualified teachers and with small class sizes?