J. Pharoah Doss: What good are the Ten Commandments to a child that can barely read?

Political scientists define the “culture war” as a conflict between social groups attempting to impose their values on society. Every rule, ordinance, regulation, ballot initiative, and court decision represent the imposition of a particular group’s values, resulting in an ongoing “culture war.” People often characterize the political left as the initiators of culture war battles because they advocate for social change; yet, the reactionary right will start their own culture war battles as soon as opportunities present themselves. When the Christian right backed Donald Trump in 2016, the left accused them of compromising their own values; however, the Christian right made a “culture war” calculation. The Christian right agreed to back Trump if he pledged to appoint conservative Supreme Court judges. Trump won and delivered. The Supreme Court now has a 6-3 conservative majority. The Supreme Court’s new direction gave “red states” the chance to reignite “culture war” battles that the left thought they had already won. Last month, Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, signed legislation requiring all public school classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded institutions, to display a poster-size replica of the Ten Commandments. Hasn’t the Supreme Court ruled against Ten Commandments displays? In 1980, a Kentucky law mandated...