A federal judge will issue a decision within two weeks on the constitutionality of a new Texas law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms.
Senate Bill 10 mandates the presence of donated 16-by-20-inch posters or framed copies of the Decalogue in all elementary and secondary classrooms beginning Sept. 1.
Fred Biery
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio heard oral arguments Aug. 15 and 18 in Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, a lawsuit filed in July by 16 multifaith and nonreligious Texas families with children in public schools.
“This issue is likely to get to the United States Supreme Court,” Biery said in the courtroom before proceedings began, the Texas Tribune reported.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation June 21 and the lawsuit was filed less than a month later. The action also names school districts North East, Lackland, Northside, Austin, Lake Travis, Dripping Springs, Houston, Fort Bend, Cypress Fairbanks, and Plano as defendants. The systems are located in the San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas metro areas.
Plaintiffs in the action include Abigail Martin and Griff Martin, pastor of First Baptist Church of Austin, and Mara Richards Bim, justice and advocacy resident at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas and a Clemons Fellow with BNG.
They are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, with Simpson Thacher and Bartlett serving as pro bono counsel.
“Our lawsuit is necessary to protect the religious freedom of all Texas public schoolchildren and their families,” the civil rights groups said Aug. 19. “This law is a transparent attempt to pressure public school students to convert to the state’s preferred brand of Christianity.”
“This law is a transparent attempt to pressure public school students to convert to the state’s preferred brand of Christianity.”
The complaint argues the statute violates the First Amendment ban on government endorsement of religion and violates parents’ responsibility for the religious education of their children.
The suit also describes the displays as coercive because they present a decidedly Protestant and state-sanctioned version of the Ten Commandments that students from other denominations, faiths or nonreligious families will be forced to see on a daily basis.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys said they “urged the court to block SB-10 from being implemented because it violates the Constitution’s promise of religious freedom and church-state separation. Public schools are not Sunday schools. Parents and children — not politicians or school officials — should get to decide if, when and how to engage with religion.”
The lawsuit is the second filed against the law. The first was filed June 24 by a coalition of Christian and Muslim parents objecting to the state’s involvement in the religious education of their children.
State officials and other supporters of the measure have argued the Ten Commandments are important in understanding American history and returning the nation to “traditional values.”
“SB-10 doesn’t prohibit anybody from doing anything, nor does it require someone to do something,” William Howard Farrell, an attorney for the state, said during oral arguments, the Houston Chronicle reported. “These are simply a passive display on the wall, and that does not create injury sufficient to satisfy the standing requirements in this case.”
The Texas legislation is part of a nationwide evangelical effort to Christianize the country with Ten Commandments laws already passed — and legally challenged — in Arkansas and Louisiana. In Oklahoma, a group of teachers and parents sued to stop the introduction of a Bible-infused curriculum in public schools and a directive from state school Superintendent Ryan Walters that every classroom have a Bible.
Related articles:
I’m a Christian teacher who opposes posting the Ten Commandments | Opinion by Rebecca Johnson
Why I’m a pastor who opposes a Ten Commandments bill | Opinion by Preston Clegg
Court strikes down Louisiana Ten Commandments law