Texas Senate Passes Bill Requiring 10 Commandments in Every Classroom

Ryan Bort
·2 min read
202
10-Commandments - Credit: (Photo by Jana Birchum/Getty Images)
10-Commandments - Credit: (Photo by Jana Birchum/Getty Images)

The United States was founded on the separation of church and state. It’s in the Constitution and everything. The Republican Party has long been working to dismantle this principle — sometimes by gesturing toward Christian nationalism, and sometimes, in the case of the Texas state Senate, by trying to write it into law.

The legislative body approved a bill on Thursday that wouldn’t just permit the state’s public schools to display the 10 Commandments; it would require them to do so and to do so prominently.

More from Rolling Stone

Senate Bill 1515 holds that “a public elementary or secondary school shall display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.” The copy of the Judeo-Christian principles to live by must be “legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.”

“I think this would be a good, healthy step for Texas to bring back this tradition of recognizing America’s religious heritage. Senate Bill 1515 restores a little bit of those liberties that were lost,” Republican state Sen. Phil King, who introduced the bill, said earlier this month.

This isn’t the first time conservative legislatures have tried to force the 10 Commandments into school, which has been in light of a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Kentucky law requiring schools to display the 10 Commandments. The Supreme Court ruled that the law violated the Lemon Test, which was established as a result of the 1971 ruling in Lemon v. Kurtzmann. The three-part test has since been used to determine whether a law violates the part of the Constitution laying out the separation of church and state.

But the Supreme Court overruled the Lemon Test last year when it ruled in favor of a Washington state football coach fired after leading students in prayer on the field. Sen. King cited the ruling as he touted Senate Bill 1515 earlier this month. “[The bill] will remind students across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America,” he said during a hearing.

The Texas Senate also approved a bill that would require schools to set aside time for prayer. “I believe that you cannot change the culture of the country until you change the culture of mankind,” Lt. Gov Dan Patrick said, according to The Texas Tribune. “Bringing the Ten Commandments and prayer back to our public schools will enable our students to become better Texans.”

The bills will now move to the Texas state House of Representatives.

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.