Photo courtesy of the Kentucky Lantern.
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The Ten Commandments may soon find their way into public school classrooms if some in the Kentucky General Assembly have their way.
Two bills have been introduced relating to the Ten Commandments in the 2025 regular session of Kentucky’s legislature.
House Bill 116 is sponsored by Republicans Richard White, Chris Fugate and Timmy Truett and would allow the religious maxims to be read from or posted in “a prominent location” in public schools.
The Ten Commandments joins other text, or excerpts, such as ” the national motto, the national anthem, the pledge of allegiance, the preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Mayflower Compact, the writings, speeches, documents, and proclamations of the founding fathers and presidents,…Supreme Court decisions, and acts of the United States Congress including the published text of the Congressional Record” that are in the bill.
“The Ten Commandments have had an indelible impact on our nation’s founding and society as a whole,” White said. “I filed House Bill 116 to allow our teachers or administrators in public school districts the opportunity to post or read the Ten Commandments, if they so choose.”
Unlike other bills and laws in other states, like Louisiana, this would only allow and not require the commandments be read or displayed.
House Bill 65 is the bill that makes it a requirement. The bill is sponsored by Republicans Josh Calloway, Candy Massaroni, Emily Callaway, Marianne Proctor, Felicia Rabourn, T.J. Roberts, Nancy Tate, Truett and White.
According to the bill, a “durable, permanent copy of the Ten Commandments shall be displayed on a wall” that is 16 inches wide and 20 inches high. Beneath the display the words “The secular application of the Ten Commandments is clearly seen in its adoption as the fundamental legal code of Western Civilization and the Common Law of the United States” will have to appear, the bill states.
Both house bills are in the House Committee on Committees. The legislature will reconvene on Feb. 4 with Feb. 13 being the last day to file bills in the senate and the Feb. 14 the last for house bills.
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