The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the ACLU of Southern California, the national ACLU, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have sent a joint letter to the Kern County Board of Education urging it to reject a proposed resolution mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in county schools.
The board is scheduled to consider the measure at its meeting in Bakersfield tonight, Thursday, Nov. 13, at 6 p.m. The proposal would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed alongside other documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, in five of the district’s six alternative education schools. The board will also consider whether to hire the Christian nationalist Liberty Counsel to represent the board.
This is a renewed drive by some on the board. Last December, the board considered posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom, but did not move forward with the proposal after strong pushback from FFRF and local community members.
In the letter, the groups explain that requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools would violate both the California Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. The California Constitution’s “No Preference,” “No Aid” and “Teaching Religious Doctrine” clauses provide even stronger protections for state/church separation than the federal Establishment Clause — and clearly prohibit government bodies from promoting religious texts.
“The Ten Commandments are not a set of universal civic principles,” the letter states. “Requiring students of faiths that do not recognize the religious symbolism of the Decalogue to be forced to come into contact either in school lobbies, classrooms, or other places in schools with a religious display that is of no religious significance to them and daily observe the Ten Commandments demonstrates a clear preference for those religions that revere the Commandments.”
The letter points out that California courts have already ruled that such displays violate the state Constitution, citing the DiLoreto v. Board of Education decision, which held that posting the Ten Commandments in public schools favors Judaism and Christianity to the exclusion of other faiths. The groups also note that the displays would run afoul of longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, including Stone v. Graham (1980), which struck down a nearly identical law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
Beyond the legal violations, the letter warns that forcing religious symbols into schools would divide the community and marginalize students of minority faiths and nonreligious families: “Many students and families will oppose the displays, not because they are anti-religion, but because they hold dear the ability to determine their religious beliefs and practices for themselves, without the government’s interference or pressure.”
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor comments, “This proposal isn’t about history — it’s about using the machinery of government to promote a specific religion. Kern County has no business telling a captive audience of children how many gods to worship, which gods to worship or whether to worship any gods at all! The First Commandment is the antithesis of our First Amendment and clearly shows why it does not belong in our public schools.”
FFRF emphasizes that the government has no authority to impose or favor any particular set of religious beliefs, and that students in California’s public schools are entitled to an inclusive environment free from religious coercion.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 5,300 members and two local chapters in California. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
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