GA Schools Could Be Required To Display 10 Commandments

ATLANTA, GA — New GOP-backed legislation may require Georgia's public elementary and secondary schools to display the Bible's Ten Commandments in multiple locations.

The first reading of House Bill 313 took place on Monday. The bill is being sponsored by Republicans Emory Dunahoo, Charlice Byrd, Noelle Kahaian, Steve Tarvin, Mike Cameron and Martin Momtahan.

If it becomes law, Georgia would be the second state behind Louisiana to mandate the Ten Commandments display in schools, WSB-TV reported.

Dunahoo told Atlanta News First that lawmakers are advising the Ten Commandments be placed near the school office's entrance, the library, cafeteria or gymnasium.

“We just need help," Dunahoo said in the report. "Our school systems are falling apart with young people, bringing guns to school, shootings.”

Most recently, a Parkview High School student in Lilburn was arrested after being accused of bringing an unloaded gun to school. Similar arrests have recently taken place in other parts of Georgia.

A Cartersville High School student was arrested in mid-January after being accused of hiding two guns in the campus bathroom. The student was first accused of shooting at a BMW before going to school.

A second Apalachee High School student in Winder was also arrested in January after being accused of bringing a gun on campus months after a mass shooting killed two students and two teachers and injured several others.

Dunahoo advocated for churches to be more involved in politics and added First Amendment rights would be protected, according to Atlanta News First.

“We need to bring good, godly Christian values back for these young people,” Dunahoo said in the Atlanta News First report. “Our forefathers founded this country on Christian principles.”

Georgia Sen. Jason Esteves, an Atlanta Democrat, told Atlanta News First that he believes schools should concentrate on education rather than the Ten Commandments.

Voting on House Bill 313 has not yet occurred.