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David Barton testified before the Texas Senate in 2023 in favor of a bill requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments. Barton, a Christian activist and self-taught historian, inspired a Louisiana lawmaker to propose a similar bill. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill during a press conference regarding the Ten Commandments in schools Monday, August 5, 2024, in Baton Rouge, La.
STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Not long after winning a third legislative term last year, State Rep. Dodie Horton got an idea for a bill that would eventually attract international interest and trigger a lawsuit widely expected to land before the U.S.
Supreme Court. The inspiration for her bill to require public schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms came from a Texas-based think tank called WallBuilders, which argues that the nation’s founding was “overwhelmingly rooted in Christian ideology.” In an email that caught Horton's attention, the group described a recent U.
S. Supreme Court ruling that “opened the door for the Ten Commandments to be posted in the schools again,” Horton, a Republican who represents Bossier Parish, recalled during a speech this September. “I said, ‘You know, Lord, I think you’re asking me to do that,” Horton said, according to a video of her remarks to the Louisiana Family Forum, a conservative advocacy group.
Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, said an email from a Christian think tank called WallBuilders helped inspire her to introduce her Ten Commandments bill. Several weeks after reading the email, Horton introduced her Ten Commandments bill, which the Legislature passed and Gov.
Jeff Landry signed into law. This week, a federal judge declared the law unconstitutional , but the state attorney general is appealing. WallBuilders was established more than 30 years ago by conservative activist and self-taught historian David Barton.
In books, videos, podcasts and hundreds of annual speeches, Barton argues that America was “ founded on Christian principles ” by “ orthodox, evangelical Christians ” who would be “ appalled by the government-enforced secularization of the public square .” Barton founded the Pro-Family Legislative Network to help Christian state legislators pass laws that are “rooted in Biblical principles and align with our nation’s founding documents.” The network, whose president came to the State Capitol to support of Horton’s bill, has shared the bill with state lawmakers across the country.
Barton has long been controversial. He’s been accused of misrepresenting historical evidence and making intolerant statements, including that AIDS is a punishment for “homosexual behavior.” In 2012, Barton’s Christian book publisher stopped distributing one of his books due to concerns about its accuracy.
Barton, WallBuilders, and Horton did not respond to requests for comment. Yet Barton, a former vice chair of the Texas Republican party, remains a powerful figure in the religious right. His admirers include top elected officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson , ordinary Christians who study his teachings and state lawmakers, like Horton, who pass legislation inspired and supported by Barton and his groups.
John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah University, a Christian university in Pennsylvania, said Barton and his associates “are probably the most influential members of the Christian right that most people have never heard of.” A disputed quote and echoes of Barton David Barton’s influence appears to extend to the very language of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law. The bill quotes James Madison as saying that “the future of our new nation” depends on citizens’ capacity to “govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.
" Barton popularized the quote in his 1988 book, “The Myth of Separation,” which argues that the nation’s founders never intended a secular government. But there is a problem with the words Barton attributed to Madison, the fourth president and “Father of the Constitution.” “This quotation is a hoax,” wrote Steven Green, a professor of law and religious studies at Willamette University in Oregon, in a report submitted by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s Ten Commandments mandate.
“There is no evidence in the historical record that Madison ever uttered or wrote those words.” Green, who attributes the “false quotation” to Barton, is not the only scholar to dispute the quote. Armin Mattes, associate editor of the “The Papers of James Madison,” a nonprofit housed at the University of Virginia, said that in the 1990s the group did “an in-depth search and concluded that there is nothing in our files that remotely resembles this quote.
” Barton eventually stopped using the disputed quote because he could not find solid proof that Madison said it. But he and others argue that a plethora of evidence points to the influence of the Ten Commandments and Christianity doctrine on the nation’s founding. “The founding documents are clearly based on the Judeo-Christian bible,” said state Rep.
Beryl Amedée, R- Houma, a member of the Pro-Family Legislative Network who knows Barton personally. “One quote, whether it's correct or incorrect, that's just insignificant in the big picture of things.” Other parts of the bill also appear to draw from Barton’s work.
Rep. Dodie Horton speak with Tim Barton, right, before he testified in support of Louisiana's Ten Commandments bill. Tim Barton is president of WallBuilders and the Pro-Family Legislative Network.
In 2023, Barton testified in support of a Texas bill that would have required public schools to post the Ten Commandments. At the hearing, he presented original copies of three historic American textbooks that referenced the commandments: the New England Primer, McGuffey Readers and one published by Noah Webster. “It’s hard to say that anything’s more traditional in American education than the Ten Commandments, going back to the very first textbook,” Barton told the lawmakers.
In May, Barton’s adult son Tim, who is the president of WallBuilders, spoke in support of Horton’s bill. He told Louisiana lawmakers about the same historic textbooks. “There is no doubt historically the Ten Commandments were a significant part of education all the way from the first textbook,” he said on May 1 .
A couple weeks later, the state Senate passed an amended version of the bill . Added to the bill was a “ context statement ” that schools must post alongside the Ten Commandments saying they were “a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.” To back up that claim, the statement cites three early American textbooks: the New England Primer, McGuffey Readers and Noah Webster’s book.
Horton also echoed Barton’s longstanding argument that the nation’s founders did not aim to restrict religious activity in the public sphere. In particular, Barton argues that Thomas Jefferson’s famous line in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists about “building a wall of separation between Church and State” has been misread. The idea was mostly to keep the government out of religion, not the other way around, he argues.
Horton made a similar argument during debate over her bill in April. In Jefferson’s letter to the Baptists, she said, “he assures them that freedom to practice your religion will never be infringed upon in this country.” Expanding influence Tim and David Barton’s group is one of several helping Louisiana lawmakers promote Christian values in public schools.
The Louisiana Family Forum assisted Horton with her bill and is raising money to send Ten Commandments posters to schools, said Gene Mills, the group’s president. The National Association of Christian Lawmakers, which has legislative members in more than 30 states, has circulated a model bill requiring public schools to post the national motto, “In God We Trust.” Horton, who is a member of the group, introduced such a bill last year that was signed into law.
State Rep. Beryl Amedée, R-Houma, left, said it's both practical and effective for conservative lawmakers in different states to share ideas for legislation. Amedée, the Louisiana lawmaker, said that Barton’s legislative network and other groups assisted with a bill she introduced this year allowing schools to hire chaplains.
Such organizations foster the sharing of ideas and even wording for bills — which is invaluable for state lawmakers who often hold other jobs and have tiny staffs. “Why reinvent the wheel,” she said. “Why not make use of language that’s already working elsewhere.
” Robert Hogan, a political science professor at Louisiana State University, said conservative advocacy groups see the states as a prime arena for advancing legislation while the U.S. Congress is gridlocked.
“The states are a cost-effective way of achieving an objective pretty quickly and cheaply,” he said, adding that model state legislation has become increasingly common. With Republicans controlling the government in several states, including Louisiana, the groups see a new opening to pass staunchly conservative legislation, Hogan added. They also are energized by recent Supreme Court cases that have expanded religious rights and lowered the traditional wall between church and state.
On a July episode of the WallBuilders podcast, Tim Barton said the Ten Commandments bill his group helped shepherd through the Louisiana Legislature is just the start. “There’s a lot of other states that are going to introduce very similar bills,” he said. “Definitely looking forward to next year taking more of this show on the road.
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