South Dakota Lawmakers Dump Bill That Would Have Forced Schools To Post The Ten Commandments
from the legislature-still-forty-percent-asshats-tho dept
Well, this didn’t last long. For a state as staunchly conservative as South Dakota, this is somewhat of a surprise. But less than a week after a bill mandating the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms was forwarded to a vote by the House committee, the South Dakota House rejected this odious offering from freshman state senator John Carley.
It was yet another one in a wave of obviously religion-based bills that have been introduced around the nation because four years of Trump made it clear nothing matters but the optics when it comes to governing. Do any stupid shit you want, as long as it earns the applause of voters who believe the government’s real job is to force people they don’t like to do things they don’t want to do.
The real winner here — beyond our constitutional rights — is Morgan Matzen of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, whose article on the rejection leads off with this headline:
South Dakota House decides it shall kill Ten Commandments bill
Aces. That’s magnificent, especially since it was delivered by a paper that often seems to grant way too much deference to local politicians, no matter the level of asshattery.
But there’s so much more to this article than that wonderful headline. Plenty of comments from the losers of the vote are contained in Matzen’s reporting. And they have to be read to be believed. Unhinge your jaws a bit in preparation for dropping.
Let’s get to it.
Rep. Logan Manhart, R-Aberdeen, said the bill incentivizes “more morality” to students in school and said the Ten Commandments are “good moral teachings students should get.” He said it was “abnormal” that the Ten Commandments aren’t being taught statewide.
Logan, the word you’re looking for is “constitutional.” It’s constitutional that the Ten Commandments aren’t being taught statewide. If private religious schools that don’t receive government funding want to do this, it’s fine. But publicly-funded schools aren’t allowed to do this. There’s nothing weird about this. It’s the way it’s been for decades.
But that’s nothing compared to this comment from another state legislator:
Rep. Tim Goodwin, R-Rapid City, said he woke up Monday morning after praying about SB 51 with a “calmness” about him, and a “voice saying to me, if one person comes to Christ because the Ten Commandments are posted, (then) vote yes.”
Good god, man. (And, of course, I am not referencing any specific god here.) Schools are there to educate, not proselytize. Speaking of which, legislators are there to govern, not proselytize. Hoping that a bill might “bring” one person to your preferred deity isn’t something state reps should be advocating for, privately or publicly. Leave that to the churches, synagogues, mosques, FSM meetings, or whoever else is actually in the business of converting people to their own personal Jesus (or his nearest non-Christian competitor). Get that out of the legislature and save your religious preferences for your off-duty hours.
Then there’s Rep. Keri Weems (R-Sioux Falls), who said things about having a “faith walk” and believing in her heart of white Christianity that the Ten Commandments isn’t a “historic document.” It’s apparently “more than that,” whatever the hell that means.
The antidote to all of that is this remark from another state rep:
Rep. Brian Mulder, R-Sioux Falls, who is a licensed pastor, said he felt that debating the Ten Commandments sidelines the mission of the church, and said the Legislature can’t ask people who don’t believe in Christ to “act out the Ten Commandments.” He said he also prayed over SB 51 and “got a different answer” than Rep. Goodwin did.
There’s someone who realizes he can still uphold his personal ideals and respect his personal faith without forcing it on everyone else. Too bad, he’s in the minority here, at least when it comes to post-vote statements. But he’s in the majority that voted down this bill and that’s where it stands for now. Given that the vote was close, I’m pretty sure this isn’t the last time someone will try to implement this mandate. For now, though, these small-town theocrats will just have to lick their wounds, bide their time, and probably (sigh) offer to pray for the soul of the state or whatever.
Filed Under: 1st amendment, establishment clause, freedom of religion, south dakota, ten commandments, unconstitutional
Comments on “South Dakota Lawmakers Dump Bill That Would Have Forced Schools To Post The Ten Commandments”
If the 10 commandments are so great for morals, why did so many Christians vote for Trump?
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Because preaching about morality isn’t the same as having it. To wit: The Catholic Church.
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Morality is for other people when you identify as a good person and identify outsiders as bad people. Conservative Christians judge themselves in star chambers and judge others in inquisition torture chambers.
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People who actually endorse Trumps behavior are as much Christian as Musk is a free speech support.
My question to the lawmakers who believe the “put the Ten Commandments in school” idea is worth pursuing would be this: If a private Christian school can have a shooting happen on its property, what makes you think putting the Ten Commandments in public schools would ever stop a student in one of those schools from doing another Parkland?
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Which one? The 1963 assassination of JFK, or the 2018 high school mass murder?
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You quoted my comment, which means you had to have read it and understood the context, and you still need to ask that question?
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*whoooooooooooosh!*
I do want to point out that “thou shalt not kill” is a … poor translation of the Hebrew. “murder” would have been the correct translation.
Of course, as a Christian, I think murdering this bill is a perfectly ethical thing to do.
Re: Murdering this bill
Well, yeah, in the case of this bill, murdering is acceptable.
Apparently the parents have failed
If the religious zealots need to post religious items in public schools- it would appear that they are failing in their responsibility to teach their children. They want to offload it to public institutions. In other words- they are abdicating their own responsibility.
Ironically, I kind of feel like the Ten Commandments are what America needs right now.
Don’t worship idols (like money), don’t abuse god’s name (like pretending you’re acting Christian when you’re not), rest on Sundays, care for your family, DON’T KILL PEOPLE, don’t steal people’s stuff (even if it’s called asset forfeiture or a fee), don’t make up fake news stories to manufacture consent for your wars, and stop being a greedy greedy bastard.
If the Ten Commandments were actually put up in schools and people actually started talking about them, the Republicans would scream bloody murder.
Re: Morality does not require religion!
My teenage girls have barely set foot in a church in their lives, but they already know that stealing, lying, murdering, greed, jealousy and cheating in a relationship are bad, and respecting your parents is good (the others are nonsense), because that’s how they were raised. No religion, forced or otherwise, was needed for them to learn how to be good moral people.
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Those of us in religious households who raise our kids according to (truly) moral principles don’t require religion to do so, either. Religion just provides the extra sauce on our rice.
All theses prayers and the bill has been rejected?
God, what could have You been doing that is more important than this bill?
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Were the prayers in triplicate (one for Big Daddy, Spooky and Junior) and printed on the wing feathers of angels? If they weren’t then they don’t get looked at.
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God was doing the same thing when that bill was being considered that God was doing when children were being raped by priests:
Nothing.
Re: Morality does not require religion!
Yep, it’s a mystery.
“Good god, man. (And, of course, I am not referencing any specific god here.)”
I would say/write it this way, “Good (insert name of favourite deity here), man.” Using Cthulhu makes for interesting reactions.
'Don't bear false witness? Don't covet? What liberal woke crap is this?!'
If they want people to think that the ten commandments are so vital to daily life that they need to be crowbarred into schools, first amendment be damned, then it would probably help if they practiced what they preached and followed the damned things themselves first.
These Christians realize that the 10 commandments are Jewish commandments, the index that leads to the 613 pharasitic laws, right?
Jesus only had two laws to live by, which fulfilled all the others:
– Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind soul and strength, and
– Love your neighbor as yourself.
So every other religious rule / government law was supposed to be weighed against those two.
Which of those are these Christians trying to fulfill by mandating how other people can act?
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Ah, I see where the confusion is coming from, you think they’ve actually read the book and care what it actually says rather than just use it as a bludgeon and/or shield for their own ends.
Common mistake to make.
If you require the idea of eternal damnation to not do shitty things, you aren’t good people.
If you can just say lol I was kidding as you die and still get the great reward, you aren’t good people.
They aren’t moral people, they have pretend morals that they insist others adopt while they keep finding ways to bend/break those rules for themselves because god wants them to take that bribe and get a bigger house.
Greetings from Agnostic London
In the UK it is in effect compulsory to teach religion, there is even a National Curriculum for it, complete with exams etc. This has been true since 1948 and since then Christian observance has fallen off a cliff. On any given Sunday going to Church is about as common as listening to the Pet Shop Boys, remember them ?
We have a state religion, the Church of England which defines it’s “worshipping community” as anyone who goes to church once a month, it would do if they were not sick, old, working or busy.
That’s long fallen below the million mark. out of a population of 68 million.
The leader of the right Conservative Party (subtle name huh?) is a black woman who defines herself as ‘agnostic’ with a party platform that provides legal, safe and free, abortions to any woman that wants one.
Of course correlation is not causation, but I strongly suspect that those Christians pushing for the 10 Commandments and other compulsory religious observance, really ain’t going to get what they hope for.