State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) says a new Tennessee law allowing schools to display the Ten Commandments is rooted not in establishing religion, but in recognizing historical influences on the nation’s founding, a principle that guided how he helped craft the legislation in the Tennessee General Assembly.
During Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pody explained that the legislation, now signed by Governor Bill Lee, reflects what he views as long-standing historical practices rather than a shift toward religious endorsement.
“Before I get into actually what we’re doing, let me tell you why,” Pody said. “If we look at the 13 individual colony states that said we’re going to do this, some of those states, actually over half of them, had their own state religion.”
He continued by pointing to early public displays of religious texts, noting, “At the time of the founding of our nation, they also had the 10 Commandments proudly displayed in a lot of their public buildings. So this is not new.”
Pody argued that understanding the Founders’ actions is more instructive than modern interpretations.
“When people tell me that they want to interpret what they believe the founders meant, I would rather look at what the founders did,” he said. “That is a whole lot more proof to me than what somebody’s gonna interpret what they think they meant compared to what they actually did.”
He further noted that such displays were common in schools for much of U.S. history.
“It stood that they could be literally in schools from the founding of our nation all the way through until the sixties,” Pody said, adding that legal interpretations later shifted away from that tradition.
The law he sponsored allows school districts to display a broader set of historical materials.
“We went ahead and we passed this piece of legislation saying that schools can have this,” Pody explained. “Right now, the way that they believe that the law says is there’s nothing preventing Tennessee schools from doing it.”
He went on to stress the policy’s voluntary nature.
“Not compelling,” he said, noting that districts may choose to include “the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Tennessee Constitution, and the 10 Commandments.”
Addressing criticism of the law, Pody said the debate often misunderstands the intent.
“People say either you want it for religion or you want it for historic documents,” he said. “But let me tell you that it was the Judeo-Christian values that this nation was founded on, and this was one of the founding steps that they had was the 10 Commandments.”
Pody acknowledged that legal challenges are likely but said the bill was carefully written with that expectation. He added that lawmakers worked with constitutional attorneys to prepare for such challenges.
“We did not try and make ours…where it’s going to be a Supreme Court test,” Pody said.
Referencing recent court decisions, he pointed to changes in how the Establishment Clause is interpreted, including Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which he said supports a return to historical context.
“We’re trying to give our local school districts the cover,” Pody said, as districts like Rutherford County begin moving forward under the new law.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X.
