Texas Senate will consider bill putting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, says Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
By Eileen Griffin
A Texas official plans to put the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) announced the state Senate will consider legislation requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms in the 2025 regular session, The Epoch Times reports.
During the last regular legislative session, in 2023, the Senate passed SB 1515, which was then approved by a committee of the House of Representatives, but was not advanced to floor debate by the Calendar Committee.
SB 1515 was very similar to the bill that recently passed in Louisiana. The state of Louisiana now mandates that all classrooms display the Ten Commandments with very specific requirements for size and location, as Heartland Daily News has reported.
Patrick responded to the recently passed law in Louisiana, expressing disappointment that Texas was not the launching pad for a national movement to return the Ten Commandments to the classroom.
“Texas WOULD have been and SHOULD have been the first state in the nation to put the 10 Commandments back in our schools,” Patrick wrote on X.
“SB 1515 will bring back this historical tradition of recognizing America’s heritage and remind students all across Texas of the importance of a fundamental foundation of American and Texas law: the Ten Commandments.”
In May of 2023, Republicans in the Texas Senate easily passed SB 1515 on a party-line vote, the Texas Tribune reported. Although the bill was approved by a House committee, it did not get a House floor vote prior to the deadline.
Democrats in the Texas legislature remain firmly against including the Ten Commandments in public classrooms. They said the effort led by Christians will erode the separation of church and state.
Christians have long asserted that the oft-repeated “separation of church and state” is a “false doctrine.” The intent of the founding fathers was to protect against a state mandated religion, not to preclude religion from classrooms altogether.
Dominated by Republicans, the Texas House is likely to pass the bill.
The Louisiana statute, signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry (R), on June 19, is more aggressive than previous efforts to date, Fox News 10 reports.
Alabama passed a bill in 2018 allowing the display of the Ten Commandments in schools. That state guarantees the right of any public school or public education facility to display the Ten Commandments, but it must be done within the context of other historical documents. Alabama does not mandate the display, leaving latitude for teachers or school administrators who choose not to post the Ten Commandments.
In February, House Republicans in Oklahoma introduced a bill, HB 2962 requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. HB 2962 would require every public school classroom to display either a framed or poster version of the Ten Commandments that is at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall, KOSU radio reported.
Oklahoma state Rep. Jim Olson (R-Roland) filed the legislation and says the law could pass and be put into effect for the 2024-25 school year.
“The Ten Commandments is one of the foundations of our nation,” Olsen said in a press release. “Publicly and proudly displaying them in public school classrooms will serve as a reminder of the ethics of our state and country as students and teachers go about their day.”
Other states have tried, some more successfully than others, to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. But in 1980, in Stone v. Graham, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a similar state statute in Kentucky, holding that the First Amendment bars public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Louisiana will be the state to watch as others contemplate their own version of the mandate, says The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.
“The Roberts Court has given religious believers a remarkable winning streak, including on the Establishment Clause, much to the dismay of secularists who want to scrub faith from public life,” wrote the WSJ.
“I will pass the 10 Commandments Bill again out of the Senate next session,” Patrick said.
“It is my prayer that this display would inspire our young people during their formative years and encourage them to lead moral, principled lives,” Olsen said.
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