Indiana law reignites commandments debate

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- As the state of Indiana prepares to pass a law allowing

schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, local proponent Wendy

Leece says it will still never fly in California.

The bill -- which would also allow courts and other public facilities to

post the biblical laws in the context of a historical documents display

-- is awaiting the governor’s signature. Lawmakers in nine other states

are expected to consider similar proposals.

Leece, a Newport-Mesa Unified School District board member, has been

suggesting the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms since the May

1998 school shooting in Springfield, Ore.

Her suggestion met with much controversy. Although school board members

said they could agree with her sentiment, they could not see approving

it.

“It’s a battle Indiana is provoking here, one that districts can’t

afford,” Leece said. “I think it’s good that they are on the cutting

edge. But that’s Indiana. California ... I don’t think we have the votes

in California to do it. That’s the reality.”

That does not diminish her belief that they should be there and that

religion does belong in the classroom, she said.

“It’s encouraging that other states have seen the value of posting the

Ten Commandments because it is a moral code of authority,” Leece said.

“There is the opinion that America is in a cultural decline and we have

not done well to teach our kids the difference between right and wrong.”

But she said she and others believe that a secular society is causing

more harm than good.

“Without having a moral compass, without realizing that there is right

and wrong, students don’t know and shoot up other classmates,” Leece

said.

But one teacher who spends his days shaping the youth in Newport-Mesa

said there are several holes in the theory that posting the commandments

will help.

“People who say that’s going to cure the ails of teenagers don’t know

teenagers,” said Joe Robinson, who has taught history at Newport Harbor

High School for the past 30 years.

As many parents could tell you, Robinson said, the best way to get

teenagers to do something is to tell them not to do it. For that reason,

posting the commandments on the wall may very well backfire.

When Leece proposed posting the commandments last year, Robinson

photocopied the pages in the Old Testament of the Bible dealing with the

Ten Commandments and asked students to translate them.

“Each student came back with something different,” he said. “Jews,

Catholics and Protestants all have different versions.”

For both sides, it comes down to freedom of religion.

“Yes, [God] has a place in the classroom,” Leece said. “Because of

freedom of religion, however, the [American Civil Liberties Union] has so

intimidated parents and teachers that they are unable to share their

faith.”

But as a historian, Robinson said he feels inclined to point out that the

worst killings have come when a state tries to put one religion over

another.

“We have had the least persecution in America, because of religion,” he

said. “By not taking sides, we have allowed America to be a very

religious country. To me, that’s the antithesis of what they’re trying

to say.”