HELENA, Montana — The 10 Commandments are on display outside the Montana Capitol, and now lawmakers want them in every Montana classroom.
Debate on Jan. 31 before the Montana Senate Judiciary called out the Seventh Commandment — “Thou shalt not commit adultery” — as being too sexual in nature for display in classrooms without parental consent.
Montana tribes, meanwhile, rallied in support of displaying the “Indian Ten Commandments” alongside the 10 Christians and Jews believe were handed down by God through the prophet Moses, as depicted in the Old Testament of the Bible.
When the sponsor of Senate Bill 114, Sen. Bob Phalen, R-Lindsay, introduced the bill to the committee, he said, “It is now a new day for religious freedom in America. The Supreme Court's approach to religious displays has evolved over time.”
Phalen said the U.S. Supreme Court is “signaling a shift toward greater accommodation of religious entities and government programs.”
That’s why, argued Phalen, now is the time to order every public-school classroom to display the Ten Commandments, as directed by SB 114, “On a poster or framed document that is a minimum size of 11 inches by 14 inches.”
The bill also requires the poster to be framed, for the text to be large and for the font to be easy to read.
David Barton, who traveled to Montana from Texas to testify in favor of SB 114, said in colonial America, first graders began their education with lessons about the Ten Commandments.
Holding up an antique textbook, Barton said, “It carries a long section on the Ten Commandments called ‘Advice to the Young.’”
While staff attorneys with the Montana Legislature raised legal concerns about the separation of church and state in their legal review of SB 114, Barton told the committee, “The Supreme Court has said that if something is a long-standing historical tradition it now carries the presumption of constitutionality. That is certainly the case with Ten Commandments in the classroom.”
Pushback From Tribes
The legacy of the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments in the classroom looms darkly over the experiences of Native Americans forced into assimilation boarding schools, said Tribal spokesperson Patrick Yawakie, who spoke for the Blackfeet Nation, Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and Fort Belknap Indian Community.
“The displaying of the Ten Commandments in reservation public schools is discriminatory and would bring up historical context that is tied to our intergenerational traumas tribal communities still face today,” Yawakie told the committee.
The Christian religion was used to justify enslavement, genocide, forced removal and theft of Native American lands, said Yawakie.
In the interests of teaching “all history, including the true U.S. history,” said Yawakie, the tribes he represents would like to see an amendment to SB 114, adding the Indian Ten Commandments to the legislation so they too are “displayed in all public school classrooms.”
The Indian Ten Commandments, which originated in the 1980s with a popular poster, includes the commandments, “Remain close to the great spirit” and “Take full responsibility for your actions.”
Yawakie distributed copies of the Indian Ten Commandments to legislators at the Friday hearing but wasn’t optimistic the Legislature would also require their display in Montana classrooms.
“If an amendment was made to include the Indian Ten Commandments, they said that it would make it unconstitutional,” Yawakie told Cowboy State Daily Monday. “That’s a double standard. Why can't we do both?”
Can public school teachers choose to display the Indian Ten Commandments? Or what about other lists spelling out the tenets of other world religions? Is that allowed in Montana? Yawakie wasn’t sure.
“That would be probably something that would be combated in the schools by teachers, by administrators, by parents,” said Yawakie. “They're opening up essentially a can of worms.”
The Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Montana Capitol, left, and the Indian Ten Commandments. 
Montana State Sen. Bob Phelan, R-Lindsay, wants every classroom to include a poster clearly spelling out the Ten Commandments. (Montana Legislative Services) 
Tribal spokesperson Patrick Yawakie called for the universal display of the Indian Ten Commandments during a Jan. 31 hearing in Helena. (Montana Legislative Services) 
Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, pointed out the sexual nature of the seventh commandment and wondered if displaying the Biblical Ten Commandments in Montana classrooms would require parental consent under Montana law. (Montana Legislative Services)
Is Commandment No. 7 PG-13?
In 2021, the Montana Legislature passed a law requiring public schools to notify parents at least 48 hours in advance about lessons that include any references to sex — everything from health classes covering human reproduction to English teachers assigning Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Sen. Cora Neumman, D-Bozeman, reminded fellow members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments includes a sexual reference.
“Every single time any of my kids’ teachers had to teach anything about a relationship or sexual relations in some way were referenced in a book that they were reading, every teacher would have to send parents an email warning us and letting us know,” said Neumman. “The Ten Commandments include, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’”
Neumann added, “This is actually going against our own legislature's ruling of the last session, of exposing children to explicit sexual reference every day on the wall.”
Steve Thennis, a former principal at Helena High School, told the committee he’s a practicing Catholic and that “religious practices are best left to the experts and places of worship.”
“We allow kids to opt out of all sorts of things and families to opt out of all sorts of things,” said Thennis. “If this is posted, in every room in the school, there is no opt out option anywhere.”
Thennis said he might consider displaying the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments in public classrooms if research showed it helped advance the goals of public education.
We would surely be interested in at least reviewing the data,” said Thennis. “If this bill was evidence-based to show increased graduation rates, increased attendance rates, 20% increase in math and reading scores, and decreased incidence of disciplinary infractions in our public schools, or make our poverty students less hungry.”
God Is Already Everywhere
Former Montana legislator Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, argued that Judeo-Christian traditions are already part of the fabric of American culture, so it only makes sense to install the Ten Commandments from the Bible’s Old Testament in Montana classrooms.
“Moses, the law giver, is depicted on the U.S. Supreme Court building,” said Regier. “Montana has laws against murder, theft and perjury that originated in the Ten Commandments. Why would we keep that history from Montana students?”
Regier went on to suggest the Ten Commandments offer a place where people of different faiths can find common ground. Take the commandments: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” and “Remember the sabbath day.”
“Everyone has a faith,” said Regier. “They may put their faith in many things, government or their own abilities. Most people don't want to hear anyone's name taken in vain. And the Sabbath is observed in our society. We call it the weekend.”
SB 114 advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 31 with a 6-3 party line vote.
How Will Montanans React?
While SB 114 enjoys the support of Republican legislators and many of their constituents, the public display of the Ten Commandments in Montana hasn’t always gone over well.
In 2020, the Catholic News Agency reported, “A man has been arrested for allegedly tearing down a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of a county courthouse in northwest Montana.”
Anthony Weimer, a 30-year-old Columbia Falls resident, allegedly wrapped a chain around the monument at the Flathead County courthouse grounds in Kalispell. He then attached the chain to his truck and pulled the granite monument into the street. He removed the chain, got into his truck, and left the area.
Weimer was later arrested and eventually found guilty of felony criminal mischief. He was sentenced to a deferred three-year sentence. As part of his sentence, Weimer was ordered to pay nearly $7,000 in restitution to cover the costs of repairing the damaged monument, according to local news reports.
Weimer and his attorney at the time tried to argue that the monument represented a public nuisance and violated the Constitution by being placed on public land.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
