Its lawmakers establishing religion contrary to the 246 year Constitutional prohibition that are missing a moral code.

 Its lawmakers establishing religion contrary to the 246 year Constitutional prohibition that are missing a moral code.

Joanna Summa’s Chicago Tribune letter ‘Moral code is missing,’ defending Texas Governor Gregg Abbott’s expected signing of law allowing display of Ten Commandments in public schools, is confused about whose moral code is missing.

Summa posits the cause of murders such as the Luigi Mangione killing of a health care company executive rests upon the absence of a cultural moral code. And what better way to establish that code than by posting Christianity’s Ten Commandments in every Texas public school classroom. In Summa’s view, had Mangione been exposed to the Big Ten in his childhood classroom, he may have passed on killing an innocent over personal health care grievances.

Summa appears unaware that 45 years ago the US Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky Ten Commandments law because it violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution declaring “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.” Summa further justifies her support by stating that Christianity’s Ten Commandments lines up with the teachings of Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Wow. Let’s not establish one religion in a country whose Constitution outlaws it. Let’s establish them all.

Now armed with a super conservative 6-3 Supreme Court majority, 14 other states besides Texas are considering Ten Commandments laws. Conservative lawmakers in these states are the folks lacking a moral code. One whose moral code is still intact is Republican Montana state senator Jason Ellsworth who argued against stating “So, if we put the Ten Commandments up, which are Christian commandments, then we’re actually violating the plain language of our Constitution in our First Amendment.” Seven other Montana Republicans joined every Democrat in the Montana Senate to defeat the measure.

Time for a civics refresher course for Summa and all those state lawmakers trying to demolish one of the most sacred pillars of our constitutional democracy.