'Incites hostility': Republicans pass bill to require Ten Commandments in Montana schools

If you post the Ten Commandments in a classroom, students will read the rule against committing adultery, and Sen. Cora Neumann had a question about that situation.

The Montana Legislature already has told schools to notify parents about anything related to sex — even teaching Romeo and Juliet — so parents can have their children “opt out” of the lesson in question.

Given that consideration, Neumann wondered how teachers would handle the situation with the Ten Commandments — from a practical standpoint.

“This is actually going against our own Legislature’s ruling of the last session of exposing children to explicit sexual references,” said Neumann, D-Bozeman.

Patrick Yawakie had a request rather than a question given that the Christian religion was used to justify enslavement, genocide and force Native American children into boarding schools.

“We would like to see an amendment … which would include the Indian Ten Commandments also be displayed in all public school classrooms,” said Yawakie, representing the Blackfeet Nation, Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, and Fort Belknap Indian Community; he provided a copy to the committee.

The senator and lobbyist were responding to Senate Bill 114, to require public school trustees to post the Ten Commandments — on a minimum 11” by 14” poster or framed document — in each classroom in every public school in Montana.

It passed 6-3 on party lines Friday without amendment after it was heard in committee the same day.

Proposed by Sen. Bob Phalen, R-Lindsay, the bill is similar to a law in Louisiana — under litigation in federal court — and a proposal some legal scholars see as a test for whether the new U.S. Supreme Court is more amenable to government accommodation of religion.

Former legislator Keith Regier spoke in support of the bill and asked why Montanans would keep history from students by avoiding a display. He said everyone has a faith — some may put their faith in money or government or their own abilities.

Regier also said the Sabbath is observed in society — “we call it the weekend” — and God is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, on money, in music, and he couldn’t see a reason God couldn’t be mentioned in schools, too.

“The courts need to understand that by removing God, they’re replacing it with nothing. No God? That’s called atheism,” Regier said.

Although the hearing Friday drew support and opposition from Montanans, it also pulled national heavy hitters in the debate to the Capitol.

Matt Krause, legal counsel with First Liberty Institute whose biography identifies him as having successfully defended people who allege their religious rights have been violated, offered a legal rationale for the bill. He said First Liberty Institute is the largest organization in the country dedicated to advancing religious liberties.

David Barton, identified by the Texas Tribune as a “staple of Texas’ Christian conservative movement,” also attended the hearing in person, holding up his own copies of the Ten Commandments. Barton, with WallBuilders, has argued the separation of church and state is a myth.

In introducing his bill, Phalen said it was drafted based on the legislation in Louisiana. Phalen said Christianity has played a prominent role in shaping western civilization, the Ten Commandments are part of the history of the country, and they should be shown in Montana schools.

A legal review of the bill by legislative staff said it may conflict with the First Amendment’s prohibitions on establishment of religion, but Phalen said that review should be disregarded given it is “a new day for the religious freedom America.”

He said the U.S. Supreme Court itself displays an estimated 50 versions of the Ten Commandments inside and out — an observation Barton shared at the podium as well. And Phalen said they are displayed on the state Capitol grounds too.

Just last week, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about the law in Louisiana that requires displays of the Ten Commandments in schools. A lower court found the requirement violates the First Amendment’s protections regarding separation of church and state and free exercise of religion.

In Montana, the legal review by legislative staff pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 1980 in Stone v. Graham over a Kentucky law requiring the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms. The court found the purpose for posting was religious, and the law conflicted with the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

“The Supreme Court also stated that posting religious texts on classroom walls did not serve an educational function and thus violated the Constitution, in contrast to the Constitutionally permissible inclusion of the Bible in a study of history, civilization, ethics, or comparative religions,” said the legal review.

In Louisiana, the law is on hold in the five districts involved in the lawsuit, and it’s in effect in districts that are not among the defendants in the case, Roake vs. Brumley, according to reporting from the Louisiana Illuminator. The court is expected to rule in short order.

In Montana, both proponents and opponents of the bill pointed to the legal landscape to defend their positions. The ACLU of Montana — an affiliate of the national ACLU, which is representing plaintiffs in the Louisiana case — argued the bill would violate the separation of church and state.

However, under questioning by Sen. Laura Smith, D-Helena, the ACLU of Montana’s Henry Seaton said the proposal raised concerns beyond the legal problems.

The ACLU has been involved in litigation against the state, and Seaton said defending lawsuits has cost the state millions of dollars, and it’s money that could go toward lowering property taxes or helping lower income people with food.

“To spend it on something that we know is futile litigation doesn’t make much sense in my mind,” Seaton said.

However, also in response to Smith, who is an attorney, Krause argued a difference exists between mandating a denomination and displaying a document on a wall. Krause said the First Amendment has two relevant parts — an establishment clause and a free exercise clause.

“Are you compelling somebody to exercise their religion in a certain way just by reading the words of the Ten Commandments? I don’t think you are,” Krause said, and he said much case law backs up his position.

Smith, though, said legal findings mostly go a different direction. She said children in a public school setting where such a display is required are a captive audience, but Krause said they can assess the message, and choose to ignore it.

He also said the prohibition on hanging up a copy of the Ten Commandments was only in place the last 40 years, and the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door to revisiting the idea again in Kennedy vs. Bremerton School District — a case his organization worked on.

That case involved a high school coach who prayed on the field at football games. The school board argued the district didn’t want to be seen as establishing a religion, but the Supreme Court said the coach was free to express his religious ideas.

Krause also said the Ten Commandments qualify as part of history and tradition, which is why they should be allowed to stay in classrooms. However, he discouraged adding other documents to the bill that don’t “have the history of tradition.”

A high school student from Helena who is heading to Johns Hopkins University offered a different analysis, and Chair Barry Usher, R-Billings, asked the student to bring more of his peers to the Capitol.

The student, Charles Snellman, said although the Supreme Court placed more emphasis on tradition and historical practices, he still believes the bill would be problematic. It implies that one specific religion is superior, he said, and it could alienate students.

“Even from a historical lens, mandating the display of specific religious texts in public school classrooms is unprecedented and would be widely viewed as government endorsement,” Snellman said.

High school teacher Brendan Work, of Missoula, said he didn’t want to frighten anyone, but he has taught dozens, potentially hundreds, of Muslim students, many from other countries and many of them homegrown.

“Frankly, what this bill does is it incites hostility against members of faiths including, as I mentioned, my Muslim students, many of whom are practicing Orthodox students with a closer relationship to God than almost anyone else,” Work said.

But Work said Jewish students, Indigenous students, and students still figuring out their beliefs need the freedom to understand different faiths in a way that is not coercive. He said displaying a symbol of Christianity would alienate his Muslim students’ sense of being American.

“Nothing is more likely to harm their sense of being welcome than that,” Work said.

As for the commandment to avoid adultery, Steve Thennis, with Montanans Organized For Education, addressed the practical consideration raised by Neumann.

Thennis said the notification requirement has been met with pushback from parents because they were getting too many emails. However, Thennis said the Ten Commandments hanging on a wall in every classroom posed a special challenge.

“There’s no opt-out option anywhere, and that’s one of my concerns,” Thennis said.

In April 2024, a group of parents, teachers and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit over the parental notification law, Senate Bill 99 from 2021, and the case is pending.

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