Gov. Jeff Landry: Most of our laws are founded on the 10 Commandments
Gov. Jeff Landry, R-La., opens up about the state mandating the Ten Commandments being displayed in class on 'America Reports.'
Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry said on Sunday that if parents have a problem with the Ten Commandments being displayed in classrooms, they tell their kids "not to look" at them.
Landry defended the controversial law during a Monday press conference that addressed how the Pelican State would counter a lawsuit that is arguing the display of the Ten Commandments in schools is unconstitutional.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include parents of public school children, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Landry said he did not understand the "whole big fuss" over the law since it represented the will of the people, considering that it was passed by elected officials.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said on Sunday that if parents have a problem with the 10 commandments being displayed in classrooms, then "tell the child not to look at it."
"I think we’ve forgotten in this country that democracy actually means majority rules," Landry said.
"In the last two decades or so, for whatever reason, our people really have flipped the script. When you elect people, you elect them by a majority. That majority gets to rule. That does not mean that if you don't like something, you have a right to impose that which the majority likes," he said. "So what I would say to those parents… tell the child not to look at it."
Louisiana's Republican-controlled legislature, with the help of some Democrats, passed House Bill 71 in June. The bill mandates that public schools display religious text, making Louisiana the first state to pass this kind of bill.
The Louisiana Capitol is seen, April 4, 2023, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith)
The bill, introduced by Republican state Rep. Dodie Horton, enshrined into law the Ten Commandments, is printed in classrooms on a poster no smaller than 11 inches by 14 inches and must be "the central focus" of the poster.
"I believe that the legislature was only following the will of the people in the state because when you look at the sheer votes that were cast in support of this bill, it was done in a bipartisan support," Landry said. "The people in Louisinaa in a bipartisan measure spoke through this bill."
The new law does not require public funds to purchase the posters, instead the effort will rely on private donations for the posters to be made and hung up in schools.
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Workers remove a monument bearing the Ten Commandments outside West Union High School, Monday, June 9, 2003, in West Union, Ohio. Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File) (AP)
According to NOLA, one of the groups who filed the lawsuit against the law said that Landry’s statements were "insensitive" and "an insult."
"It’s shocking that the governor and the attorney general would say, 'Just tell your child not to look at them,' as if that makes up for the egregious violation of conscience of placing one Bible’s edicts in every single classroom in the state," Annie Laurie Gaylor, the co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said.
Fox News' Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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