David Barton testified before the Texas Senate in 2023 in favor of a bill requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments. Barton, a Christian activist and self-taught historian, inspired a Louisiana lawmaker to propose a similar bill. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill during a press conference regarding the Ten Commandments in schools Monday, August 5, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La.
STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Not long after winning a third legislative term last year, State Rep. Dodie Horton got an idea for a bill that would eventually attract international interest and trigger a lawsuit widely expected to land before the U.S.
Supreme Court. The inspiration for her bill to require public schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms came from a Texas-based think tank called WallBuilders, which argues that the nation’s founding was “overwhelmingly rooted in Christian ideology.” In an email that caught Horton's attention, the group described a recent U.
S. Supreme Court ruling that “opened the door for the Ten Commandments to be posted in the schools again,” Horton, a Republican who represents Bossier Parish, recalled during a speech this September. “I said, ‘You know, Lord, I think you’re asking me to do that,” Horton said, according to a video of her remarks to the Louisiana Family Forum, a conservative advocacy gr.