James Talarico

You know, I've gotten that a lot.

People who are like, you're in seminary, you're studying to become a minister.

Why wouldn't you want the Ten Commandments in every classroom?

So I recognize that it's kind of a weird position to be in.

But I grew up in a tradition that cherished the separation of church and state, not just because it protects the church or protects democracy, but it is what allows this democracy to happen where we can all have different faith traditions and live together in peace.

And so any attempt to erode that boundary, I feel like I have a special obligation to speak out against it.

And so I told my colleagues that I thought the bill was unconstitutional, the bill was un-American.

But I went one step further and I said I thought the bill was unchristian, which again probably sounds weird to people.

But in all of Jesus' teachings, he's always focused on the outsider, the outcast, the person who's left out or the person who's different.

And so as a Christian, I think my concern is for the Muslim kid and the Jewish kid, the Hindu kid, the atheist kid who's sitting in a classroom who now has a poster on the wall forced by the government that says, you know, your religion is inferior or you're not welcome here.

And I just think if Jesus saw that, he would weep for those students and would demand that we love them as ourselves.

And so that's why I kind of spoke out against the bill on theological grounds, not just constitutional grounds.

So what is the bill?

Can you explain?

Yeah.

So the bill forces every teacher in the state to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms.

It's only public schools because that's really where we have authority as the state legislature.

And the bill, this is going to sound weird, but it even specifies how big the poster is, the dimensions of it.

It has to be in a conspicuous place.

It's basically the size of a sheet of paper, regular sheet of paper.