Public school teachers in Texas are now required to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms.
Lawmakers passed Senate Bill 10 in May and the new law went into effect on Sept. 1. It requires public schools to display a 16-by-20-inch poster of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
The move has sparked concerns over violations of students’ First Amendment rights and freedom of religion.
”When I first heard that it was going to be implemented in schools, I thought ‘This is not right,’” Azeemah Sadiq, a senior at Alief ISD and a senior policy associate at Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, told COURIER Texas.
“They are trying to push a narrative, and agenda of promoting a particular religion, and it begs the question, why don’t we have other foundational principles of other religions being shared? Why a specific religion, and why is it even there at all? It shouldn’t be. Our public schools are supposed to remain secular,” she added.
Teachers are also voicing their frustrations with the new mandate.
“It’s concerning, I know there are some parent advocacy groups within my district who have already stated that they will push back,” said April Jones, an Algebra 1 teacher at Northeast ISD in San Antonio. “Parents are very upset that this has to be posted, and I know a lot of teachers who—even if they are Christian—they’re wondering why they have to hang it in their room. Originally, they told us we shouldn’t be hanging up anything that doesn’t have to do with what we’re teaching.”
“I’m not teaching bible class, so why am I hanging this up?” she added.
Texas followed Louisiana and Arkansas in passing legislation requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, although a Louisiana federal court ruled that the law violated a constitutionally required separation of church and state and has not been implemented.
In July, the ACLU of Texas and 16 families filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the law. And in August, US District Court Judge Fred Biery issued a temporary injunction, ruling that the law was unconstitutional and interfered with parents’ rights to guide their children’s religious upbringing.
