On June 21, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas Senate Bill 10 into law, requiring Texas schools to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms. This legislation, also known as the Texas Ten Commandments Bill, has received grateful praise from social conservatives, but has also garnered sharp criticism across the political and religious spectrum.
Introduced to the Texas Senate government in February, the Ten Commandments Bill requires that public elementary and secondary schools “display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable posted or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” that meet the specifications it provides. According to the legislation, the poster must be at least 16 by 20 inches and contain only the protestant version of the Commandments- most similar to the King James Translation– in a legible font.
Should a school not abide by this order, from which there are no exceptions other than those provided by preexisting laws, district funds can be used to purchase a poster. If the district is not willing to purchase such a poster, it is not required to do so, but classrooms are required to accept private donations of compliant posters.
The bill also requires the state to protect schools from “expenses, costs, judgments, or settlements of the claims” that may arise as a result of their display of the Ten Commandments posters.
Texas state Sen. Phil King, who sponsored the bill, said that the Ten Commandments are “ingrained in who we are as a people and a nation,” and suggested that they should be displayed to provide students with a sense of “moral clarity.” The Ten Commandments, King argued, are the basis for most American legislation and values.
Texas Values, an organization that seeks to preserve and implement Judeo-Christian values in the state, celebrated SB-10. Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values, called the bill a “Texas-sized blessing” and expressed gratitude to Abbott for signing it into law.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have already announced plans to sue the state, according to Catholic News Agency.
A group of faith leaders in Texas stood against the bill. The group included Christians of many different denominations and Jewish leaders, who felt that the legislation was “misguided” and “unconstitutional.” They wrote their concerns in a letter to the Texas Senate and House of Representatives.
These religious dissenters claimed that there are many interpretations and versions of the Ten Commandments, and thus “the government oversteps its authority when it dictates an official state-approved version of any religious text.”
Arguments over the legality of such a bill mostly focus on the 1980 Supreme Court case Stone v. Graham. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a statue in Kentucky that required the Ten Commandments to be posted on the walls of each classroom was unconstitutional.
Additionally, within the last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans voted unanimously against a proposed law that would require schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, similarly to SB-10. The case was brought forward by nine families trying to block the law via lawsuit.
In Arkansas, seven more families have filed a lawsuit in hopes that they, too, can block similar legislation in their state. The lawsuit was filed for the families by the same three organizations currently suing Texas.
Anticipating dissent, King noted that until the Stone v. Graham decision, schools regularly explored religious materials integral in forming American tradition. Furthermore, King believes that the overturning of Lemon v. Kurtzman, a 1971 case that set the precedent for Stone v. Graham, could signal the reintroduction of religious materials into the public square.
The Texas state government remains ready and willing to defend classrooms against attacks over the bill. Though lawsuits have been launched already, it remains to be seen how Texas parents will react when the posters go up in their childrens’ school come September.