Ten Commandments in classrooms ‘grave concern’ to Baptist pastor

  • Arkansas signed Ten Commandments law Monday
  • Oklahoma was the first state to introduce it
  • Arkansas pastor says Ten Commandments should not be in public schools

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(NewsNation) — A bill requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings and classrooms was signed into law in Arkansas on Monday.

It became the second state in the United States to implement the mandate, following Oklahoma.

However, one Arkansas pastor is unhappy with the move.

“In my faith tradition, we are very aware of the dangerous toils and snares of state-sponsored religion,” Preston Clegg, pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, told “The Hill.”

“We’ve borne the brunt of state-sponsored religion in our history, and so to have this passed at a state level, so that it’s in public school, state-sponsored classrooms, is something that’s of grave concern to me.”

Despite some proponents suggesting it is tied to the history of the United States and should be present, Clegg believes differently.

“I’ve spent my entire career teaching Judeo-Christian values. I think they should be taught in churches and synagogues. In Arkansas, we do not lack for churches, we do not lack for synagogues,” he said.

“We do not lack for clergy who can teach these Ten Commandments and have communities that embody these Ten Commandments, rather than sever them from their biblical context and post them on walls in public school classrooms.”

Education

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