The worst thing about Louisiana becoming the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms in the state is that Louisiana Republicans created and passed the legislation in the first place, but the most obnoxious thing about it is the way these gaslighting lawmakers keep playing around in our faces and pretending they didn’t do exactly what they did for the reason they obviously did it.
Recently state Rep. Lauren Ventrella (R-Greenwell Springs), who co-authored the Ten Commandments bill, made an appearance on CNN where she joined her fellow state Republicans in working overtime to make the legislation about anything other than what it’s about, which is religious indoctrination. (You know, that dirty “i” word fragile white conservatives like to use whenever gender studies or non-whitewashed Black history is being taught in the classroom but never apply to themselves when they’re trying to force-feed students jingoism, pseudo-patriotism and other forms of regressive conservatism.”
CNN host Borris Sanchez asked Ventrella, “What do you say to the parents of students, or even teachers, who don’t share your religious views?” to which Ventrella essentially replied, “F**k them kids!”
OK, what she actually suggested regarding the Ten Commandments display was that the students simply “Don’t look at it” if they have a problem with it, which is rich coming from a member of the party of: “If I don’t like this book no student in the entire school district can learn from it.”
After being a casual hypocrite without a hint of self-awareness, in true conservative fashion, Ventrella moved on to pretending the Ten Commandments law is all about history, not Christian proselytizing.
“It’s merely posting a historical reference on the wall for students to read and interpret if they choose,” she said, ignoring the fact that a myriad of non-Christian religious texts also doubles as a “historical reference” but would not be allowed in any American classroom if your average right-winger had their say. (Also, we’re kind of muddying the waters of what’s “historical” if we’re deciding unequivocally that Biblical history is included in factual history, but whatever.)
Ventrella wasn’t done jumping around from talking point to talking point while dodging the most obvious inference, which is that a bunch of Christian nationalists with legislative powers are trying to reinforce the lie that America is fundamentally a Christian nation by mandating that the Christian doctrine be displayed in every classroom beginning at kindergarten.
From News 4 WWL:
State Attorney General Liz Murrill said she is looking forward to defending legal challenges and she emphasized the moral teachings of the Commandments.
“The 10 Commandments are pretty simple (don’t kill, steal, cheat on your wife), but they also are important to our country’s foundations,” she said on social media.
Ventrella echoed those sentiments saying that the nation has been going in a bad direction.
“This nation has gotten out of hand with crime, with the bad, negative things that are going on. Why is it so preposterous that we would want our students to have the option to have some good principles instilled in them?”
So, it’s about history, morals and crime prevention, huh?
I suppose we’re all supposed to simply ignore the glaring fact that the first four out of the Ten Commandments have nothing to do with any “moral code”—as the bill’s other co-sponsor Rep. Dodie Horton previously insisted—and everything to do with solidifying the Christian god as the only “idol” to be worshiped, forbidding “graven images” and taking ” the name of Lord thy God in vain,” and requiring that people “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” Louisiana Republicans had a wealth of quotes and writings from prominent historical figures or organizations at their disposal that promoted morals and the (obvious as hell) idea that killing and stealing are wrong (not to mention illegal as hell) without including text that declared one religion to be supreme over all other religions, which should all be rejected in favor of that one religion, according to the word of that religion’s deity—but instead, they chose the Ten Commandments.
When Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the bill into law, which he did at a Catholic school, he claimed the Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government,” which is historically inaccurate and logically false considering it has only ever been illegal in the U.S. to break two of those commandments—the same two commandments that have been illegal to break in virtually every other civilization in known history.
The least these legislators and elected officials could do is stop being such damn cowards and just admit what they’re really doing with this absurd law. Instead, they just keep deflecting and moving the goalpost. They keep pretending to be the true patriots of America while proving how limited their knowledge of the nation’s history is, and how little they actually care about its Constitution when it contradicts their ideology.
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