Former President Donald Trump is backing the placement of the Ten Commandments in schools and other public spaces, dubbing it the “first major step in the revival of religion.”
Mr. Trump weighed in days after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed a law requiring the commandments to be placed in every public classroom in his state.
“I love the Ten Commandments in public schools, private schools, and many other places, for that matter,” Mr. Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social, deploying all-caps for emphasis. “Read it — how can we, as a nation, go wrong???”
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups plan to fight the Louisiana law, which sparked another debate about the separation of church and state in the U.S.
Mr. Landry defended the decision to display commandments that, in the biblical narrative, were handed to Moses. The governor said, “You’ve got to start from the original lawgiver.”
The legal fight could get a friendly audience at the Supreme Court, which has tilted toward the conservative right in recent years through three appointments by Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee against President Biden, is not a frequent church-goer or outwardly religious in his personal life. But he’s courted Christian conservatives as a major bloc of support, which could explain his embrace of the commandments.
“This may be, in fact, the first major step in the revival of religion, which is desperately needed, in our country,” he wrote. “Bring back TTC!!! MAGA2024.”
Polls show Mr. Trump slightly leading or virtually tied with Mr. Biden heading into the summer party conventions.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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