The Ten Commandments and Mandatory Reporting
A few days ago, Governor Landry signed into law that all schools in Louisiana shall have on their walls in print large enough to be easily read the following:
“The Ten Commandments
I AM the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”*
Obviously, having these commandments in school is against the first amendment. They are obviously and quintessentially religious, particular the first four/five of them (I am god, don’t take my name in vain, don’t make images of me, keep Sabbath holy). They have no place in any public school in the United States of America.
Setting that aside, the fifth commandment orders everyone to honor their parents. or children with loving parents instructions to honor their parents may make sense. But for children in homes where parents are abusive or neglectful, teachers, counselors, and doctors should allow children not to honor their parents. A friend of mine was raped by her father and her brother repeatedly as a child. To me, her father has no honor. I believe that her need to honor her parents is one of the reasons she did not speak up and get herself out of the situation.
Louisiana’s Children’s Code 603 states that teachers are Mandatory Reporters of child abuse. This means that teachers have to report when they suspect child abuse in the home. To me, this seems to contradict “Honor thy father and thy mother”, as teachers cannot simultaneously teach children to honor their parents, and speak out against abuse a child may be suffering at the hands of their parents. I hope that Governor Landry noticed this contradiction and ensured that teachers know that Code 603 is the law of the land above Commandment 5.
Louisiana does not allow abortion in the case of incest, however, so perhaps they do not really mean the Children’s Code 603. You can read more of the code here: https://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/assets/docs/searchable/Child%20Welfare/DCFS_June2019_MandatedReporterBrochure.pdf
*Note: this version is the same one that the Texas courthouse used in Van Orden vs Perry (according to this article: https://forward.com/opinion/625648/louisiana-ten-commandments-law-hebrew-jewish-meanings/#:~:text=Turns%20out%2C%20the%20Louisiana%20legislators,%3A%20Van%20Orden%20v.%20Perry.). It leans towards the protestant (non-Lutheran) version of the 10 Commandments, by keeping the commandment against images in, whereas Catholics (and Lutherans) tend to take it out.
