In a show of ignorance, willful or otherwise, of the nation’s legal heritage, Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have allowed teachers to display and discuss the Ten Commandments in their classrooms.
Additionally, the governor vetoed legislation that would have defined “male” and “female” based on biology rather than “gender” and required that single-sex facilities must be maintained for public restrooms, locker rooms, etc.
The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday that Hobbs had “serious concerns about the constitutionality” of Senate Bill 1151 concerning the posting of the Ten Commandments, sponsored by Republican Sen. Anthony Kern.
The bill passed the Arizona Senate in a party-line vote in February and the state House in April.
Kern explained in a news release about the legislation that it “would not have required biblical principles to be taught, rather, schools would be empowered to decide whether including this historical document in the classroom would contribute to well-rounded, age-appropriate, and culturally diverse atmosphere inspiring discussion and engagement.”
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🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Katie Hobbs Abandons God by Killing Legislation Allowing Public Schools to Include Ten Commandments in Classrooms pic.twitter.com/YoaFEfrb98
— AZSenateRepublicans (@AZSenateGOP) April 16, 2024
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Abington School District v. Schempp in 1963 that mandatory daily Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional, but noted that “it might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities.”
So the posting or discussion of the Ten Commandments that Kern’s legislation allowed appears to fall within the boundaries the court set.
Should teachers be able to post the Ten Commandments?
SB 1151 would have allowed teachers or school administrators to post the Ten Commandments, in addition to other matters of significant historical importance that are already permitted under Arizona law to be displayed, including the U.S. motto “In God we trust,” Arizona’s state Constitution’s preamble, the Mayflower Compact, the state motto “Ditat Deus” and the Declaration of Independence.
What all the above have in common is that they mention God.
The state constitution’s preamble says, “We the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution.”
In the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims signed the first document to establish self-government in the New World and said the purpose of their colony was “for the Glory of God, and the Advancement of the Christian Faith.”
“Ditat Deus” is Latin for “God enriches.”
The Declaration of Independence refers to God four times, including in its very first sentence, “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” used to justify the United States’ separation from Great Britain.
Therefore the U.S. was founded on and is grounded in a biblical worldview.
At its core is the belief that a just God, as revealed in the Bible, governs over the affairs of this world, and he has established timeless divine laws — the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” — that create corresponding inalienable rights, as stated in the Declaration of Independence.
The pre-eminent law book at the time of the founding, Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Law of England,” lays all this out well.
“Upon these two foundations, the law of nature [established by God and observable in creation] and the law of revelation [found in the Bible, directly revealed by God], depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these,” Blackstone wrote.
As I explain in my book “We Hold These Truths,” the Ten Commandments create the right to life (“You shall not murder”) and the right to own property (“You shall not steal”).
The commandment not to covet your neighbor’s house “or anything that is your neighbor’s” is also a recognition of the right to own property and a rebuke to the central tenet of socialism: Use the force of government to spread the wealth around.
Another commandment, “You shall not bear false witness,” creates the right not to be falsely accused of a crime (which, of course, would result in the loss of one’s life, liberty or property). The right to due process of law is designed to protect the accused from false allegations.
The commandment to “honor your father and your mother” establishes the central role of family in society.
The family is also delineated in the book of Genesis and reaffirmed by Jesus Christ in the New Testament: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
So the Ten Commandments are very important to the nation’s legal history and worthy of study. One manifestation of their importance is a depiction of Moses holding the laws in the center of a frieze at the U.S. Supreme Court.
And based on the Bible!
Moses, the Lawgiver, is a statue that is no longer “politically correct.”
Moses, holding the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, is the center figure on the East Pediment of the Supreme Court building.
On the wall directly behind the Chief Justice’s… pic.twitter.com/VwaQrt8lZL
— Linda Marie Lovison (@lilo623) August 15, 2023
Kern responded to Hobbs’ veto of his legislation by saying it “is a prime example of the Democrats’ efforts to push state-sponsored atheism while robbing children of the opportunity to flourish with a healthy moral compass.”
Hobbs also vetoed SB 1628, which would have replaced “gender” with “sex” in state law and required public entities to provide single-sex environments for athletes and in public restrooms and living facilities.
The affirmation of there just being two sexes comes right from the Ten Commandments and the words of Jesus as quoted above.
Hobbs explained her veto saying, “As I have said time and time again, I will not sign legislation that attacks Arizonans,” according to the Republic.
That apparently does not include women who want to feel safe in their locker rooms and restrooms.
“Ironically, despite being a woman, Gov. Hobbs refuses to acknowledge that women are adult, human, females — as commonly understood for millenia — and has no interest in advancing privacy, safety, and equal opportunity for the 3.6 million Arizonan women,” Christy Narsi, an Arizona native and national chapter director for Independent Women’s Network, said in a statement Tuesday.
SB 1628 mirrored some of the language included in the Women’s Bill of Rights being promoted by Independent Women’s Voice.
Independent Women’s Voice ambassador and former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan said, “It’s shameful that a female Governor has just vetoed the Women’s Bill of Rights, a common sense bill that defines words like ‘woman’, ‘girl’, and ‘female.’ Women in the state of Arizona depend on this bill to help prevent sex discrimination and it’s particularly harmful a woman doesn’t want to stand with women.”
Hobbs’ vetoes are in effect a rejection of a healthy culture, based on time-tested truths.
