Texas is set to become the largest state in the nation to mandate that every public school classroom display a copy of the Ten Commandments, with advocates fearing a further erosion of church and state and the legislation\u2019s sponsor making clear that\u2019s a separation she doesn\u2019t believe in.<\/p>\n
While Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has not yet signed the measure, which comes as red states are increasingly seeking to inject Christianity into public education, he\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0lawmakers in early May to \u201cget this bill to my desk. I’ll make it law.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the legislation, beginning September 1, every school in Texas will be required to display a 16 inch by 20 inch poster of the Ten Commandments. While they won\u2019t be required to buy them with district funds, they will be required to display them if donated.<\/p>\n The legislation also effectively\u00a0creates an official state version<\/a>\u00a0of the Ten Commandments, because only one specific iteration meets the new statute: a King James Bible-derived list of \u201cThou shalt nots\u201d that is used by many Baptists and evangelicals but not by a majority of Catholics,\u00a0Jews, protestants or Eastern Orthodox Christians.<\/p>\n Critics argue the bill is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from creating a state religion. <\/p>\n The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas on Wednesday\u00a0announced it would sue<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n “S.B. 10 is blatantly unconstitutional. We will be working with Texas public school families to prepare a lawsuit to stop this violation of students\u2019 and parents\u2019 First Amendment rights,” the ACLU wrote, calling the measure “religiously coercive.”<\/p>\n Supporters\u00a0of the bill, meanwhile, appeal to a\u00a0letter from<\/a> Thomas Jefferson which seems to leave open the possibility of state regulation of religion, though so far, courts haven\u2019t agreed: A similar bill in Louisiana was blocked in November after\u00a0being ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Texas bill is one of a broad array of public policy proposals pushed by an alliance of groups that\u00a0seek a broader role<\/a>\u00a0for evangelical Christianity in public life. A prior state measure, passed in 2021,\u00a0required schools<\/a>\u00a0to display \u201cin God we Trust\u201d placards in every classroom.<\/p>\n Neighboring Arkansas\u00a0passed its own Ten Commandments bill<\/a>\u00a0in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a nod to the legal risks, amendments to the Texas measure require the state attorney general, currently Republican Ken Paxton, to defend at state expense any school district sued over compliance.<\/p>\n This week, the Texas legislature also passed a\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0permitting prayer in public schools and stripping language that forbids teachers from \u201cencouraging\u201d students to participate.\u00a0<\/p>\n That measure also obligates the office of the state attorney general to help schools set up a prayer program, and \u2014 like the Ten Commandments bill \u2014 to defend any legal challenges to it at public expense.<\/p>\n During debates over passage, bill sponsor state Rep. Candy Noble insisted that it was not a religious measure but meant to instruct students about the historical importance she says \u00a0the Ten Commandments hold in American democracy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill is about honoring our historical educational and judicial heritage with the discipline of the Ten Commandments,\u201d Noble said in a Sunday exchange with Rep. James Talarico (D), a self-described evangelical who opposed the bill.<\/p>\n Over the past two months, Talarico and Noble\u2019s verbal duels over the bill have served as an intra-evangelical debate over the role of Christianity in public life.<\/p>\n \u201cWe established that our founding fathers wanted a separation of church and state,\u201d Talarico began in\u00a0one April committee hearing<\/a>, before Noble cut him off.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not establish that,\u201d she said. \u201cI absolutely did not establish that. That\u2019s a historical fact that I disagree with.\u201d<\/p>\n In his opposition to the bill, Talarico repeatedly argued that displaying the Ten Commandments was itself a religious violation: a contradiction of St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0dictum<\/a>\u00a0in Romans that all the commandments could be \u201csummed up in this sentence, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n He argued it was not neighborly to signal to Jews, Muslims, Hindus or members of other Christian denominations that they didn\u2019t belong.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a read Noble emphatically pushed back on. If these people were Americans, she said, \u201cmaybe it would make them curious about what made our forefathers tick. Maybe it will help them wonder \u2018How can I treat others better? Maybe it will help them ask their parents questions on \u2018Why should I be under your authority?’<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe we can take that tack with it instead of the negative tack that you’re taking with it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n In debates over the bill, Noble repeatedly argued that \u201cour classrooms are crying out for moral guidance,\u201d though she went back and forth on whether teachers would be required to interpret the Ten Commandments for students.\u00a0<\/p>\n