Louisiana governor tells parents against Ten Commandments in classrooms: 'Tell your child not to look'

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has a suggestion for parents who don't believe the Ten Commandments should be displayed in public school classrooms throughout the state.

"Tell your child not to look at them," he told reporters Monday.

The Republican governor defended the controversial legislation during a news conference announcing how Louisiana intends to fend off a lawsuit that argues that it is unconstitutional to hang the Ten Commandments in state-funded school and college classrooms.

Landry first signed the GOP-backed legislation in June, making Louisiana the first state in the nation to require schools to exhibit posters of the religious text, which was revealed to Moses in the Bible and remains revered by followers of the Christian faith.

But the move prompted a coalition of parents — Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious — to sue the state days later in federal court. They argue that the legislation "substantially interferes with and burdens" their First Amendment right to raise their children with whatever religious doctrine they want.

Landry said the backlash against the law is unwarranted. House Bill 71 passed overwhelmingly and included bipartisan support from some Democrats, he added.

Given that Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers of the state Legislature, which has allowed Landry to push forward a conservative, tough-on-crime agenda, the governor upheld the Ten Commandments law as an example of how "the majority gets to rule."

"I don't see what the whole big fuss is about," he said Monday.

The law requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments by January.

Louisiana public school students are returning to classrooms for the new school year over