A group of Arkansas parents has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block a new state law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms.
Seven families with students in public schools filed the litigation June 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, arguing the statute violates their freedom of religion and undermines parental responsibility for the religious education of children.
“As American Jews, my husband and I deeply value the ability to raise our children in our faith, without interference from the government,” plaintiff Samantha Stinson said.
Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1 also challenges the specifically Protestant Christian version of the Decalogue legislators chose to be prominently displayed as posters or framed copies no less than 16-by-20 inches in size.
“This law will infringe on our rights as parents and create an unwelcoming and religiously coercive school environment for our children.”
“By imposing a Christian-centric translation of the Ten Commandments on our children for nearly every hour of every day of their public-school education, this law will infringe on our rights as parents and create an unwelcoming and religiously coercive school environment for our children,” Stinson said.
The action naming school districts in Fayetteville, Bentonville, Siloam Springs and Springdale as defendants was filed on behalf of the families by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
They are the same groups behind Roake v. Brumley, the 2024 lawsuit challenging the Louisiana Ten Commandments law declared unconstitutional by a federal judge and currently under appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The organizations also have pledged to sue Texas when Gov. Greg Abbott follows through on his promise to sign recently passed legislation requiring the displays in that state’s public schools.
Signed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in April, Arkansas Act 573 goes into effect Aug. 5 and subjects all public school students to a state-approved version of the Ten Commandments regardless of their religious or nonreligious backgrounds.
The complaint makes claims under the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the U.S. Constitution for trampling on students’ religious beliefs and putting the state in the role of religious education. “Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library — rendering them unavoidable — unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture.”
Furthermore, the law “substantially interferes” with parents’ responsibility to direct their children’s religious education and development, the suit alleges. “The state’s main interest in displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools under Act 573 is to impose religious beliefs on public-school children, regardless of the harm to students’ and families’ religious freedom.”
The lawsuit supports that claim with a statement by an unnamed Arkansas legislator describing the Ten Commandments law as a tool for evangelism: “I think that anything we can do to try to increase access to or spread that gospel … would be something that I would want us to do as a person of faith.”
KHBS in Fort Smith and Fayetteville identified the lawmaker as Republican Rep. Jeremy Wooldridge.
The lawsuit also takes aim at the law’s claim of presenting “a historical representation of the Ten Commandments.”
“Even for faith traditions that view the Ten Commandments to be authoritative and important, there are many different versions, depending on religious denomination and biblical translation,” according to the complaint. “For example, it is missing the important message in the Jewish story about God bringing the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery to freedom. It also states ‘thou shall not kill,’ whereas the translated version followed by most Jews prohibits ‘murder.’ The different language reflects deep theological differences as to the Ten Commandments’ meaning and scope.”
The guarantee of church-state separation should mean families alone should decide if and how their children engage with religion, said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “This law is part of the nationwide Christian nationalist scheme to win favor for one set of religious views over all others and nonreligion — in a country that promises religious freedom.”
Arkansas’ Ten Commandments law is irreconcilable with the principles that helped establish the nation, ACLU Senior Counsel Heather Weaver added. “Public schools are not Sunday schools. Apparently, Arkansas lawmakers need a lesson in the First Amendment.”
Related articles:
I’m a Christian teacher who opposes posting the Ten Commandments | Opinion by Rebecca Johnson
The Ten Commandments and the tyranny of minority rule | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim
Why I’m a pastor who opposes a Ten Commandments bill | Opinion by Preston Clegg