A federal judge has temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a new law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, calling it part of a “coordinated strategy” to inject Christian doctrine into schools, according to Fox News.
The ruling, handed down by U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks, an Obama appointee, applies to four school districts in northwest Arkansas — Fayetteville, Bentonville, Siloam Springs, and Springdale — following a lawsuit filed by a coalition of multi-faith families.
“Why would Arkansas pass an obviously unconstitutional law?” Brooks wrote in his 35-page ruling, as quoted by KUAR. “Most likely because the state is part of a coordinated strategy among several states to inject Christian religious doctrine into public-school classrooms.”
The ruling halts the enforcement of Act 573, which was signed earlier this year by Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The law was scheduled to take effect Tuesday and would have required public schools and libraries to prominently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
According to the judge, the law is anything but religiously neutral. “Act 573 is not neutral with respect to religion,” Brooks stated, adding that it “requires that a specific version of that scripture be used, one that the uncontroverted evidence in this case shows is associated with Protestantism and is exclusionary of other faiths.”
The lawsuit challenging the law was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, who argued it violated religious freedom and parental rights.
“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library — rendering them unavoidable — unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” the lawsuit stated. “It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments… do not belong in their own school community.”
Attorney General Tim Griffin, whose office defended the law, said he is reviewing the decision and assessing legal options.
ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Holly Bailey responded to the decision, saying through a spokesperson: “It is clear from this order and long-established law that all should refrain from posting” the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
The injunction applies only to the four districts named in the lawsuit, leaving the remaining 233 school districts in Arkansas in legal limbo — at least for now. It’s unclear whether the plaintiffs will seek to expand the block statewide.
Arkansas isn’t alone in facing legal backlash over these displays. Similar laws in Texas and Louisiana are also under fire.
In Louisiana, the first state to mandate Ten Commandments displays in every classroom, a panel of three appellate judges ruled the law unconstitutional just last month.
And in Texas, a group of families and faith leaders filed a lawsuit just days after the state’s version of the law was signed.
The battle over religion in public schools is far from over — but for now, Arkansas’ push to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms has hit a legal wall.
