Texas will require public school classrooms to display Ten Commandments under bill nearing passage

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Come September, every public school classroom in Texas could be required to display the Ten Commandments under a requirement that passed a key vote in the Texas legislature Saturday — part of a larger push in Texas and beyond to increase the role of religion in schools.

Senate Bill 10 moved forward despite a federal court ruling that a similar Louisiana law violated a constitutionally required separation of church and state.

The bill passed the House on second reading 88-49 — on the Jewish Sabbath day, which the Ten Commandments forbids, as Rep. James Talarico said in an effort to highlight legislative hypocrisy. The lower chamber’s approval came after more than two hours of debate and despite last-ditch Democratic efforts to water down the law, including giving school districts the opportunity to vote on the policy, and adding codes of ethics from different faiths into the bill.

After a final vote that could happen as early as Sunday, the bill heads to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign it. The bill passed the state Senate 20-11 in March.

Sponsored by Sen. Phil King, a Republican from Weatherford, the bill requires every classroom to visibly display a poster sized at least 16 by 20 inches. The poster can’t include any text other than the language laid out in the bill, and no other similar posters may be displayed.

“It is incumbent on all of us to follow God’s law and I think we would all be better off if we did,” Rep. Candy Noble, a Republican from Lucas who is carrying the bill in the House, said during the floor debate Saturday.

Supporters argue that the Ten Commandments and teachings of Christianity more generally are core to U.S. history, a message that has resurged in recent years as part of a broader national movement that considers the idea of church-state separation a myth.

That movement fueled Texas’ push to require schools display “In God We Trust” signs if they were donated by a private foundation — signed into law in 2021. In 2024, the State Board of Education approved Bible-infused teaching materials.

This session, lawmakers have advanced bills that allow a prayer or religious study period in school, and one that would require teachers to use the terms “Anno Domini” (AD) — Latin for “in the year of the Lord,” and “Before Christ” (BC) when expressing dates.

Proponents of King’s bill also say making the Ten Commandments more prominent in schools will combat what movement leaders see as a generations-long moral decline.

Texas is one of 16 states where lawmakers have pursued the Ten Commandments bills.

Although the Supreme Court ruled against a similar Kentucky law in 1980, supporters in Texas and beyond find support in the current makeup of the court’s justices and in the 2019 Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which found a football coach could lead prayers on the field after games.

But Robert Tuttle, a professor of religion and law at George Washington University, said allowing a private individual to pray — as in the Kennedy case — is different from displaying the Ten Commandments in the classroom.

Last June, a federal court struck down a Louisiana law requiring all public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments — the first state this decade to pass such a law. The state is appealing the decision.

“The constant presence of a sacred text in the room with them is effectively telling them, ‘Hey, these are things you should read and obey,’” Tuttle said. “That's not the state's job — to do religious instruction.”

He also said that despite the Supreme Court trending in a more conservative direction, its decision Thursday that leaves in place a prohibition on the establishment of a religious charter school in Oklahoma could mean that the Court, for now, is not throwing out that principle.

During Texas legislative committee hearings, opponents from free speech and civil rights groups — some of whom waited till 4 a.m. to testify — said the policy could send a message of exclusion to students of other faiths or those who don’t practice a religion. They also said the commandments were irrelevant to classes like math, and could prompt questions that were not age-appropriate, such as what adultery means.

The teachers union said it opposes the bill because members believe it violates the principle of separation of church and state.

“Public schools are not supposed to be Sunday school,” said spokesperson Clay Robison.

Democratic Rep. James Talarico — who is studying to become a minister — raised concerns in House floor discussions Wednesday that the First Amendment forbids imposing a state-sponsored religion.

“My faith means more to me than anything, but I don't believe the government should be forcing religion onto any American citizen, especially our children,” the Austin lawmaker told the Tribune. “I'm a Christian who firmly believes in the separation of church and state.”

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