Arkansas becomes 2nd state to require classroom posting of Ten Commandments
Legal challenge likely as similar Louisiana law remains tied up in court
Arkansas has become the second U.S. state to require the posting of an abridged version of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the mandate, Senate Bill 433, last week. The new law, which affects classrooms and school libraries from kindergarten through the university level, goes in effect next Jan. 1. The requirement also applies to other buildings owned and operated by the state or local governments such as city halls, libraries and police stations.
Arkansas is following the example of Louisiana, which passed a school Ten Commandments law last year. Implementation of that law, however, has been delayed by the local U.S. District Court, which found that the law violated the religion establishment clause of the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. That judicial ban is under appeal.
A court challenge of the new Arkansas law is a virtual certainty. SB 433 was vigorously opposed by the Arkansas unit of the American Civil Liberties Union, among other organizations, although the ACLU has yet to announce legal action. As it lobbied against the proposal, the ACLU said that it “not only blurs the line between state and church but violates Arkansans’ religious liberty.”
The Arkansas House had passed the bill on a 76-19 vote, followed by the Senate on a 28-5 tally. Votes in both chambers were along party lines, with full Republican support and full Democratic opposition.
The bill specifies that the Ten Commandments posts mujst be “easily readable” and on a poster or framed copy of at least 11 by 14 inches using a large font. The new law also clarifies an existing requirement on the posting of the national motto, “In God we trust,” to specify how the motto must be easily readable.
The version of the Ten Commandments specified by new law is an abridgment from the King James Version of the Bible and follows a verse selection often used by Protestants. It begins with “I am the Lord thy God.”
The law anticipates that the Ten Commandments posts would either be donated or funded by donations.
Among the groups that had been pushing for the legislation was the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit law firm that has promoted similar proposals in legislatures across the country. Matt Krause, the organization’s general counsel, applauded Sanders and the Legislature, saying in a prepared statement that “[p]lacing this historic document and national motto on schoolhouse walls is a great way to remind students of the foundations of American and Arkansas law.”
Governor earlier signed bill about Founding Fathers
SB 433 was the second bill that Huckabee Sanders has signed this month supporting the agenda of religious conservatives promoting that idea that U.S. laws are based in part on religious ideals.
The earlier bill is House Bill 1705, which requires that teaching on the “religious and moral beliefs of the Founding Fathers” be “embedded” in that state’s social-studies standards. The requirement would go in effect at the start of the 2026-27 school year for grades six through 12.
Specifically, the law requires, among other things, instruction on the “meaning and purpose” of the Declaration of Independence’s preamble, which includes the statement that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
It also requires instruction on the “extent the founding fathers recognized historical events and texts, such as the Ten Commandments, the Mosaic Law, the New Testament, and the experiences of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, and these teachings as a basis for American law and public policy.”
HB 1705 is likely to face a court challenge as well.