By Walker Wildmon for THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
In 1980, God watched our nation remove displays of the Ten Commandments in classrooms after the Supreme Court held, in Stone v. Graham, that it was unconstitutional for God’s law to hang in public schools. The Supreme Court’s 1980 decision was not an act of neutrality. It told a watching God that our nation would thrive better without His influence. The Supreme Court and our nation now have the chance to send a different message to God.
The Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to review two recent decisions by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal that put the Ten Commandments back on classroom walls. In February, in Roake v. Brumley, the Fifth Circuit allowed a Louisiana law (H.B. 71) to go into effect that requires public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Similarly, in April, in Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion upholding a Texas law (S.B. 10) that requires public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. In each case, the lower district courts held the laws were unconstitutional based on Supreme Court precedent in Stone. The Fifth Circuit correctly rejected the lower court holdings because Stone was no longer binding precedent. In the 2022 case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Justice Gorsuch had declared that the Court abandoned the legal standard Stone relied upon. Given that development, if the Supreme Court reviews the Fifth Circuit’s recent decisions, it will likely overrule Stone expressly.
Overruling Stone would be a valuable step towards restoring our national relationship with God. But putting His commands back on classroom walls will not fix the root issue that caused its removal. It is synonymous with trying to resuscitate dying fruit on a branch cut off from the vine. In John 15:5 (NIV), Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If America is a branch from God’s vine, then it depends on its connection to God to yield good fruit. And that connection requires America to acknowledge God’s authority.
