A new bill in Tennessee, Senate Bill 151, is proposing that schools display the Ten Commandments, a portion of the Declaration of Independence, and the preamble to the U.S. Constitution in prominent areas such as entryways or cafeterias. Sponsored by Senator Mark Pody R-Lebanon the bill aims to educate students on the significance of the Ten Commandments to the ideals of the United States, asserting that they have a historical connection to the nation’s founding documents.
Pody has suggested that organizations would be encouraged to donate the documents to schools, so the legislation would not incur state costs.
However, there are concerns from critics, including J.C. Bowman, the executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, who warn that the bill could lead to legal challenges.
He pointed to a 1980 Supreme Court decision that ruled displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
This bill is loosely modeled after a similar Louisiana law, which was set to go into effect in January 2025 but was blocked by a federal judge. Bowman cautions that the state might be testing the waters to see if the Supreme Court will overturn past rulings now that it has a more conservative majority.
He suggests an alternative approach could be to include such documents in Tennessee’s social studies standards instead. The bill still needs a House sponsor and has passed its first consideration in the Senate.