Letter: Compelling Christianity thru Ten Commandments' display not what Jesus would do

Inspired by evangelical Christian nationalism and MAGA fervor, the Republican governor and legislature of Louisiana (my home state) have passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, including college and university classrooms.

The aim? To compel students to be more moral and more explicitly Christian (although the Commandments are not explicitly Christian, they’re Jewish). This will supposedly strike a powerful blow against the growing secularism of American culture and “make us great again.”

As a Christian, I’ve visited many different churches. I haven’t seen the Ten Commandments emblazoned on the interior walls of any of them, or on the front of their church bulletins. I haven’t seen large stone tablets displaying the Commandments on the lawns or walkways of churches in Greenville or any other town, or emblazoned on the sides of church vans traveling the highways.

How many Christian congregations read or recite the Ten Commandments as part of their weekly services? How many Christian nationalists read the Ten Commandments aloud to their own children in their own home on a daily basis (much less multiple times each day … remember, students often sit in multiple classrooms each school day)?

Using the government’s power to force-feed the Commandments to students, teachers, and school personnel when these supposedly committed Christians don’t even display and recite them in their own religious practice is not only unconstitutional — it’s spectacularly hypocritical.

Compulsory Christian indoctrination is the absolute antithesis of Jesus Christ’s teaching. As Shakespeare noted, the devil can quote scripture for his own purposes.

VICKI KENNEDY

Grifton