A bill seeking to force school districts display the Ten Commandments in every South Dakota classroom has advanced from the Senate.
It’s the second time the proposal advanced by just one vote.
The bill would mandate the teaching and display of the religious document statewide. It does not make an appropriation to assist school districts in paying for the display.
Piedmont Republican Sen. John Carley is the prime sponsor bringing the bill. He believes there is misunderstanding of what separation of church and state truly means.
"The idea was not to have government influencing church, but rather when Jefferson talked about it that was to have the influence of the church bring elements to our government," Carley said. "We see that happen today. We see prayers in front of our state capitol, we see Ten Commandments monuments outside of the Arkansas state Capitol.”
Under current law, there is no ban on teaching the Ten Commandments in social studies education. Assistant minority leader Jamie Smith, a Sioux Falls Democrat, said the proposal rejects the notion of local control.
“There has been permissive language for almost 25 years," Smith said. "Just because the schools have chosen not to doesn’t mean we should force them to. Frustrating – we keep putting more and more on teachers and public schools saying ‘do this, do this.’ Local control people. Let your communities decide what’s best for them, and if its best for them and they want to put them up they can.”
There was steep dissent among the sponsors’ own party members. Tea Republican Sen. Ernie Otten said it took serious deliberation to arrive at his conclusion.
"At the end of the day, no matter how we like it there was a point in time where all this government we see and act on was based on (the Ten Commandments)," Otten said. "That is a given, but on the flipside folks, we’re not Mayberry anymore. Many times, that’s what we look at. So, I will not be supporting this, and I hope the folks at home can understand that I can’t in good conscious go down this road.”
The bill passed on a vote of 18 to 17 Tuesday. It now heads to the state House of Representatives.