A new Louisiana law mandating that schools display the Ten Commandments in every classroom is setting off a stream of debates between conservatives, liberals, and independents about the nature of separation of church and state. The law was signed by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry on Wednesday and mandates that poster-size displays of the Ten Commandments be displayed in “large, easily readable font” from kindergarten all the way to state-funded universities. The law would take effect in 2025. The law was backed by Republicans in the state legislature, with opponents calling it unconstitutional. Landry acknowledged the possibility of pushback at the Tennessee Republican Statesmen’s Dinner the Saturday before signing the legislation, saying, “I’m going home to sign a bill that places the Ten Commandments in public classrooms. And I can’t wait to be sued.” The law requires the historical role of the Ten Commandments be highlighted and that, “Including the Ten Commandments in the education of our children is part of our state and national history, culture, and tradition.”

Critics were quick to decry the move, with the hosts on The View calling it “a dangerous game.” “If you want your child to have a religious education, send them to a religious school. There’s nothing stopping you. Get out of my pocket, get out of my body and get out of my school,” said host Whoopi Goldberg. Host Sunny Hostin stated she believed Landry is relying on the Supreme Court to side with him. “I think what he is banking on is this reactive, very partisan Supreme Court will overturn precedent and say, now, this is okay. And we should be very afraid of that because we’re now in upside-down world where you have a precedent from this century saying you cannot do that anywhere,” she said. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham that a Kentucky statute requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools was unconstitutional. That may, however, not automatically apply to the Louisiana law. “There’s no prohibition on displaying or using the Ten Commandments as you would any other historical document. It’s when you elevate them as something more than just a historical document or you isolate them by themselves it seems you’re endorsing religion,” said Derek Black, a constitutional law professor at the University of South Carolina. The law permits, but does not mandate, that schools can hang up displays such as the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence alongside the Ten Commandments.

Christians also debated the legality of the law. In an op-ed for The Huffington Post, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush encouraged all religious people to be against the law. “Every religious person should object to having the Ten Commandments in schools because you are allowing other people — people over whom you have no control — the responsibility of interpreting said commandments. If you take the Ten Commandments seriously, you certainly don’t want someone who doesn’t share your beliefs explaining to the classroom what they mean,” he warned. He cited the example of a student asking a teacher the history of the Ten Commandments and being given an answer different than the one he receives at church. He stated that Christianity should take its place as a part of American society but not as the only part. “Christianity is expected to take its position as part of the circle of faiths and non-faiths that make up the fabric of American society. This is good for Christians, and it is good for everyone else.”

Andrew Walker, professor of Ethics and Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offered a different take. “Baptists affirm the separation of church and state as formal institutions each with their own jurisdictions. We do not advocate for the separation of government and morality,” he wrote. He stated the religious context statement makes the display more than just a religious establishment. “In short summary, this law mandates the historical recognition of the religio-ethical foundations of American law, of which the Ten Commandments materially contributed. Laws and the ethics undergirding them do not arise in a vaccum, so it is good to pay homage to Western law’s foundation, which is indisputably Judeo-Christian.”