The commandments must be the central focus of the display, according to the law, and the display must include a statement about the history of the Ten Commandments in American public education.

The Catholic Church adopts the same attitude, Schneider said. "We primarily use the Ten Commandments as an examination of conscience. They are general precepts and they don't really define ...

He recalled the incident in 1859 when 11-year-old Thomas Wall, a young Catholic student, refused to recite the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments and had his hands beaten.