WallBuilders Victory

WallBuilders ProFamily Legislators Network victories

Governor Jeff Landry signs bills related to his education plan on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette.

Nola.com STAFF PHOTO BY BRAD BOWIE

We want to share some incredible victories from WallBuilders’ Pro-Family Legislative Network (PFLN).

WallBuilders President Tim Barton was invited by Representative Dodie Horton and Senator Adam Bass

to join them, as well as Governor Jeff Landry, yesterday for the signing of HB 71. This bill allows the

Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms!

[IMAGE of Tim and the Gov, legislators at Signing]

Louisiana is the first state in the nation to pass this historic legislation since the Supreme Court rejected

the “Lemon Test” and instituted the new “History and Traditions Test.”

Don’t know what the “Lemon Test” and History and Traditions Test are? Learn more about it here.

David and Tim first testified in support of this bill when it was introduced in Texas last session, and Tim

testified in support when it was introduced in Louisiana earlier this year. He showed the committee

original artifacts proving the Ten Commandments' influence on America.

[IMAGE of Tim testifying in LA]

Through our Pro-Family Legislative Network, we have shared this legislation with legislators nationwide,

including at our annual conference for state legislators last year. We are grateful for Rep. Horton and Sen.

Bass’s strong leadership on this bill to ensure the next generation is exposed to the Ten Commandments,

the foundation of America’s laws and so much of our country's history and traditions.

Another incredible victory for school students in Louisiana is HB 334, sponsored by Representative Beryl

Amedee, also a WallBuilders’ Pro-Family Legislative Network member. This bill clarifies in state laws

that chaplains are permitted in public schools. At a time when mental health challenges are on the rise,

Chaplains can provide students and teachers with vital support. We celebrate this legislation becoming

law thanks to Rep. Amedee’s leadership and Governor Landry’s signature! Louisiana joins Texas and

Florida, which have passed similar legislation.

[IMAGE of Tim and Rep. Amedee ]

The third bill Governor Landry signed on Wednesday was HB 908, also sponsored by Representative

Amedee. This bill prohibits discrimination against students based on their vaccination status—another

strong protection for the students and families of Louisiana!

When you support WallBuilders’ Pro-Family Legislative Network and Conference, you help make these

victories possible. Thank you! These laws will have a lasting impact on students in Louisiana for years to

come.

If you would like to be part of helping more Christian lawmakers and support the work of PFLN, we

encourage you to prayerfully consider making a donation today.

BUTTON [DONATE]

https://wallbuilders.givingfuel.com/pfln-donations

Donations we receive support our annual conference for state legislators and allow us to provide

scholarships to deserving legislators who would otherwise be unable to attend. At this conference, we

share essential briefings and bill drafts and give the legislators necessary encouragement and support for

their sessions ahead.

Thank you again for your support and your prayers. We praise God for these tremendous victories!

The WallBuilders Team

PFLN ARTICLE

PICTURE - TIM, GOVERNOR, LEGISLATORS AT SIGNING

​​The law given from [Mount] Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious

code; it contained many statutes…of universal application—laws essential to the existence of

men in society, and most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any

code of laws….Vain, indeed, would be the search among the writings of profane antiquity…to

find so broad, so complete and so solid a basis for morality as this Decalogue [the Ten

Commandments] lays down. [1] PRESIDENT JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

We celebrate the passage and signing of Louisiana’s HB 71, sponsored by Representative Dodie

Horton and Senator Adam Bass. The bill allows the Ten Commandments to be displayed in

public school classrooms.

Louisiana is the first state in the nation to pass this historic legislation since the Supreme Court

rejected the “Lemon Test” and instituted the new “History and Traditions Test.”

What is the Lemon Test?

In 1971 in the case Lemon v. Kurtzman the Court announced its new test for determining the

permissibility of public religious expressions. It stipulated that for a public religious activity to

be constitutional, it must: (1) have a primarily secular purpose, (2) not advance religion, and (3)

avoid creating any government entanglement with religion. As you can imagine, this test

prohibited nearly all religious displays of religion. The original religious protections of the First

Amendment were thus dramatically curtailed.

Over seceding years, the Lemon Test produced increasingly absurd results. The modern Court

has now acknowledged that not only was the test flawed but it held an inherent bias against

religion.

The New History and Traditions Test

Nearly 50 years later, the Supreme Court rejected the Lemon Test in its 2019 ruling in the

Bladensburg Cross Case. The Court stated, “retaining established religiously expressive

monuments, symbols, and practices….gives rise to a strong presumption of constitutionality.” [2]

In other words, if something religious has been part of the fabric of American society and culture

for a long period of time (such as crosses, invocations, Ten Commandments displays, et al.), then

they must be presumed to be constitutional. This was a dramatic reversal from the Court’s recent

decades of decisions, but a clear return to the Constitution’s original intent.

Three years later in 2022, in the cases Shurtleff v. Boston [3] and Kennedy v. Bremerton, [4] the

Court openly rejected the Lemon Test.

With the Court’s renouncement of the Lemon Test, the Ten Commandments may once again be

permitted in schools as they once were based on the fact that it is part of America’s history,

traditions, and the foundation of our law in America.

As President Dwight Eisenhower said so well:

The blessings of life and the freedoms all of us enjoy in this land today are based in no

small measure on the Ten Commandments, which have been handed down to us by the

religious teachers of the Jewish faith. These Commandments of God provide endless

opportunities for fruitful service, and they are a stronghold of moral purpose for men

everywhere. [5]

If you would like assistance with similar legislation in your state, please reach out to us at PFLN.

We are here to assist you.

Sources:

1. John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams, to His Son, on the Bible and Its

Teachings (Auburn: James M. Alden, 1850), 61, 70-71.

2. American Legion v. American Humanist Association, 588 U.S. __, 2085 (2019).

3. Shurtleff v. City of Boston, 596 U.S. ___ (2022).

4. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. ___ (2022).

5. Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Statement by the President on the Occasion of the Jewish High

Holy Days,” September 26, 1957, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States:

Dwight D. Eisenhower 1957 (Washington DC: United States Government Printing

Office, 1958), 695.