Rabbi PJ Schwartz argues against Alabama’s new law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, but his argument applies to all such laws.
On April 10, 2026, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 99 requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools serving 5th–12th graders in classrooms, libraries, lunchrooms, and all other common spaces.
Proponents of the bill claim it is “historical,” “educational,” and religiously neutral. For the record, it is not about history, it is not about education, and it is certainly not religiously neutral.
Calling this law “historical” is not just inaccurate. It is a strategy—a way to give legal and cultural cover to something that would be far more obvious if it were named honestly: privilege of one particular Christian worldview in a public institution meant to serve everyone.
More than that, it is appropriation.
The Ten Commandments are a sacred Jewish text, given to the Jewish people, written in Hebrew, rooted in a specific story of liberation and covenant. This law takes that text, reshapes it through a Christian lens, strips it of its context, and mandates its display as if it belongs equally to everyone. That is not preservation. That is distortion.
Adding insult to injury, the version being required is not even faithful to the original. It omits the defining opening—“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery”—the very line that grounds the commandments in the narrative of the Jewish people.
And it needs to be said clearly: this does not reflect the beliefs or desires of all Christians. Many Christian leaders and communities understand that faith loses its integrity when it is elevated or enforced by the state. Many of my clergy colleagues across traditions are dismayed by this as well. This is not a shared religious effort. It is a particular ideological move that uses religion to draw boundaries around belonging.