If proponents of posting the Ten Commandments in public schools are to be believed, the moral development of Texas children in 11 school districts lags those of other Texas schoolchildren as of Monday.
We don’t believe this. The students in these districts are just fine. But Monday was when a new Texas law went into effect requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted and visibly displayed in all Texas public schools.
Exempt from that requirement, for now, are 11 school districts from which 16 families from different faith backgrounds filed suit against SB10’s implementation on the grounds that it violated the separation of church and state, and would force students to adopt religious scripture promoted by the state.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs, keeping the law from taking effect in those 11 school districts.
In his ruling, Biery found that posting the Ten Commandments in public schools “impermissibly takes sides on theological questions and officially favors Christian denominations over others.”
We agree with the judge, of course. But what’s interesting is how the sponsors and supporters of SB10 also agree. They have been explicit that imposing a certain type of Christianity on public school students is their objective.
When one of the authors of the bill, Texas Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, expressed his shock in a March hearing that “only 25% of our kids today in schools have been in a church” and “only the Lord can save us, and we need to engage in prayer,” he is clearly speaking of a Christian church and prayer to a Christian God.
But if schoolchildren are not going to church, the answer isn’t to bring the church into public schools, especially when not all students are Christian.
In his ruling, Biery imagines the anger among Christians if a city council and school board of a majority Muslim community in Michigan passed a law that beginning Sept. 1, 2025, all public buildings and schools are required to post the teachings of the Quran.
Does anyone doubt that the same legal objections being raised against the posting of the Ten Commandments wouldn’t be used by the Christian right against the posting of teachings from the Quran?
Biery writes how the Bill of Rights would protect Christians in that fictional scenario involving the Quran, just as it protects the 33% of Texans who aren’t Christian. That minority includes schoolchildren who may be ostracized because they may be of a different faith or practice no faith.
Jewish plaintiffs object to the King James Version of the Ten Commandments, which SB10 decrees must hang on posters at least 16 by 20 inches, because it differs from the version based on their teachings and faith.
Arkansas and Louisiana preceded Texas in passing legislation requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools and preceded Texas in having a court rule such legislation unconstitutional.
Public schools are secular institutions, not centers of religious indoctrination. Ethical behavior and treating others with respect are teachings that transcend religions and cultures.
Forcing the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools ignores these self-evident truths.
