Senate Bill would require Ten Commandments to be displayed in Missouri classrooms

A bill in the Missouri legislature, if passed, would require classrooms to have an 11″ by 14″ or larger poster displaying the Ten Commandments as of Jan. 1 of 2026.

Senate Bill  is sponsored by state Sen. Jamie Burger of Benton.

The bill is currently under consideration in the education committee of the Missouri State Senate.

Burger has said that problems in schools today stem from a lack of prayer and religion.

A federal judge blocked a similar law in Louisiana in November, and the state appealed the court’s decision.

In 1980’s Stone v. Graham decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a similar law in Kentucky violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.”

For Sage Coram of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the bill violates the U.S. and Missouri constitutions. Children are required to attend school, and SB 594 could pressure students into adopting the state’s preferred religion, usurping parents’ right to choose what religious doctrine, if any, to instill in their children, Coram said at the hearing.

Bev Ehlen of Liberty Link Missouri supported the bill but asked that “kill” be replaced with “murder” in “Thou shalt not kill.”

State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville, who chairs the education committee, spoke at length in favor of the measure. He cited his belief that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation.

“We just need to be willing to plant that flag,” Brattin said, “that God, and the God of the Ten Commandments, is who gave us this amazing nation, and we need to be able to reflect and look at that.”

Portions of this story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian.