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is determined to see Louisiana public schools, colleges and universities display the Ten Commandments in classrooms across our 64 parishes. She's defending the law and providing "guidance."

To start the new year strong, Murrill provided school districts with some advice and counsel about how to deal with a state law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms while the law is being challenged in court. I wouldn't make a move.

As of Jan. 1, public K-12, college and university classrooms were in each classroom in each school district and higher education system.

But a federal judge said not so fast.

In Baton Rouge, U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles decided that the new law is "overtly religious." He told Murrill and others that it is unconstitutional and cannot be upheld to make school officials do something almost none of them have done voluntarily.

Knowing a federal judge said no to moving forward, Murrill shared four designs she believes are constitutional. I guess we're supposed to accept this history gift to help us uphold our morals and to keep our children and young adults on the right path.

Gov. Jeff Landry, Murrill, state Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, the law's sponsor, and others argue that the commandments are fundamental to the creation of our nation. They say they were so central to our nation's ethical and legal foundations that acknowledging that and standing by such an influential set of "laws" is important to give students historical context and a broader, deeper perspective about how we got where we are today.

Opponents including the Louisiana ACLU, Hindus for Human Rights, Muslims for Progressive Values and the Sikh Coalition argue that the law is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment. They argue that those who are not Christians should not be made to have a Christian set of principles imposed on those who have other religious faiths or no religion of choice. Parents of "minority faiths," they argue, should choose how to guide their children's faith journeys.

As a Christian, I believe in the authority and the power of the Lord. I think the commandments are meaningful, significant and worthy of pursuing. I don't believe the commandments God shared with Moses were meant to rule the world, all nations, all peoples, all religions. I don't believe we'd have weak laws without a Christian view of morals and values.

Certainly, I'm not alone. That's why there are different versions of the Ten Commandments among Christians, Jews, Mormons and others. Setting aside holy books like Islam's Quran and the Jewish Torah for the moment, Christians have more than 3,000 versions of the Bible. More than 400 of those are in English.

Louisiana requires that schools use the King James Version. Certainly, it's quite a popular version used by many Christians. But what about the New King James Version, the New International Version, the English Standard Version or the New Living Translation?

Tell me again why the King James Version is the Bible that must be used for displaying that publication's Ten Commandments.

The law is specific, providing specific language that must be displayed and in what size.

I wonder how many of the law's supporters have the commandments displayed in their children's and grandchildren's classrooms, their churches and their homes.

I wonder how many can say they've lived by six or more of them.

During the sausage-making that the legislative process can be, Horton and others realized that mandating the postings without providing the funding wouldn't go over well.  to clarify that the directive isn't attached to financial resources. "This Subsection does not require a public school governing authority to spend its funds to purchase displays. A governing authority may spend its funds or donated funds to purchase the displays and may accept donated displays," the law reads.

Have you seen school districts and systems rushing to set aside money to fund this mandate?

Have you heard that there's a groundswell of donors scrambling to give money for this cause?

I've heard crickets.

If I were a school, college, university or higher education system leader, I'd thank Murrill for her guidance and sit tight. I think the state's appeal of the decision is going to be a loser.

Seems this law is popular with a group of conservatives forcing their will on the people without funding it and expecting people to follow by spending their own money.

I won't be donating.

Will you?