Hamilton County schools may soon be required to display the Ten Commandments after approval this week from school board members.
Earlier this year, Tennessee lawmakers passed a law empowering school boards to vote to allow schools to display a set of historic and religious documents in a “prominent location” in schools.
The law, which allows the posting of the Ten Commandments, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and a line from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence that mentions God, came after legal precedents banning the documents from schools were overturned by high federal courts, school board attorney Scott Bennett said at Thursday’s board meeting.
At least five Tennessee school districts had allowed the documents before last week, Bennett said, and around another five were voting last week to allow them. Any expense that comes with the displays can’t be paid with taxpayer dollars, according to the law, Bennett said.
All six Republican members of the board voted Thursday to require the documents, and all four Democrats voted against the proposal. Several members of both parties cited their own Christian faith in making their decision.
“I go to church and I take my kids to church, but this isn’t about my personal views,” board member Katie Perkins, D-East Ridge, said at the meeting. “I’m just concerned about the text, the verbiage on there. It says ‘United States founding documents.’ I don’t think these are three of the United States founding documents.”
Before voting yes, board member Gary Kuehn, R-Ooltewah, said his own church and his children’s church would be disappointed if he didn’t.
(READ MORE: ACLU queries Tennessee school districts on Ten Commandments)
Bennett, the attorney, said he reviewed the constitutionality of displaying religious documents like the Ten Commandments in schools, and said courts have recently ruled that the display should be allowed as long as a government isn’t endorsing or establishing an official religious practice. Tennessee law intends to use the documents to educate students on history, culture or heritage, Bennett said.
“There are lots of references to religious language in the public domain,” Bennett said, citing “In God We Trust” inscribed on coins and government seals. “So the court has said that that’s really part of our fabric.”
Board member Felice Hadden, R-Ooltewah, made the motion Thursday to require, not just allow, schools to post the documents in a prominent location. That can be an entryway, cafeteria or common area where students are likely to see it, Bennett said.
The first version of the Tennessee law would have made it mandatory for all public schools to post the documents, board member Ben Connor, D-North Chattanooga, said at the meeting.
“The specific reason, that I know from talking to people on Capitol Hill, that they removed it from being mandatory is they’re not going to be dumb enough to pay the bill to fight this.”
Connor said requiring the documents to be displayed in Hamilton County schools would “invite an immediate and costly legal challenge,” which he said the board’s attorney has alluded to in the past.
“At this time, when the board has already made painful decisions because of a budget deficit, choosing to spend money defending an unnecessary lawsuit would be profoundly irresponsible. Those tax dollars belong in our classrooms,” Connor said.
Board member Ben Daugherty, R-Signal Mountain, said the Bible was a source of truth and guiding documents for the founding fathers while they made decisions.
“I am a believer. I believe in the Ten Commandments. I try to raise my kids to know the Ten Commandments. I view this as just a great way for any kid, regardless if he believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior or not, to practice good principles,” Daugherty said. “Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not covet. I mean, these are all good matters of exercise for any kid in society.”
Daugherty was elected vice chair of the board earlier in Thursday’s meeting, and member Jodi Schaffer, R-East Brainerd, who added the question of displaying the documents to the meeting’s agenda, was elected its chair in a vote split along party lines.
The Ten Commandments already are displayed in some school settings, some board members pointed out, thanks to the district’s Bible classes.
Contact editor Ellen Gerst at 423-757-6319 or egerst@timesfreepress.com.