Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is defending the state’s mandate to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, explaining that the United States was founded upon "Judeo-Christian" principles.
"I didn't know that living the Ten Commandments is a bad way to live life," Landry told ‘America Reports’ on Friday. "I didn't know that it was so vile to obey the Ten Commandments. I think that speaks volumes about how eroded this country has become. I mean, look, this country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and every time we steer away from that, we have problems in our nation. I mean, right now, schools... basically treat kids like critters and yet the Ten Commandments is something bad to put in schools? It's just amazing, it really is."
The Republican governor is taking the heat from liberal commentators for the state's mandate to display the religious text in public school classrooms. "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg said the mandate "bothers (her) to no end," because when she grew up people were allowed to believe what they believed and it wasn't discussed with others.
"If you want your child to have a religious education, send them to a religious school. There’s nothing stopping you. Get out of my pocket, get out of my body and get out of my school," she said, explaining she doesn't have issues with religion.
The Republican governor says the state believes in displaying historical documents, especially something "as important as the Ten Commandments."
"When the Supreme Court meets, the doors of the Supreme Court on the backside have the Ten Commandments," he explained. "Moses faces the U.S. Speaker of the House in the House chamber. He is the original giver of law. Most of our laws in this country are founded on the Ten Commandments. What's the big problem? That's the part that I don't understand."
Landry argued that the idea of "separation of church and state" does not exist in the First Amendment of the Constitution. The new law does not say schools have to go out and purchase them, but people may donate the Ten Commandments to be posted in schools.
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"It's a metaphor that was breathed into the First Amendment by a liberal Supreme Court in the 1930s," he told Fox News. "...Look at all of the documents. All of the founding documents of this nation were based upon Judeo-Christian principles. We've got it on our money. We've got it all over our Capitol. We have it in the Supreme Court. It is those that want to extract that out of the foundation of this country that really and truly want to create the chaos that ultimately is the demise of this nation."
