Not set in stone: teachers are defying mandates to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms

Protesters outside the Texas state house before lawmakers voted on a bill requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, on 21 May 2025. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Alamy

When history teacher Chris Dier sued Louisiana two years ago for mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, he said it was not about taking a stand against Christianity.

“It’s a defense of many different types of values, including civil liberties and religious freedoms,” Dier said, who teaches at a New Orleans high school. “I spent over 16 years teaching students that the constitution protects everyone of every faith – students of no faith too.”