Amid growing tensions between constitutional law and religious symbolism, the state of Texas has passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be visibly posted in all public school classrooms. With the legislation passed on June 2 and signed by Governor Greg Abbott, Texas becomes the largest U.S. state to explicitly anchor religious content within the public education system - a move that is already provoking sharp constitutional opposition. The poster or framed copy must be at least 16 by 20 inches in size - and written in a specific English version that ignores denominational differences. Whether Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical, or Muslim - the diversity of religious interpretations, linguistic traditions, and cultural contexts plays no role under the law. Only the state-defined version counts - in the classroom, day after day.
The law was easily passed by the Republican-dominated legislature. One of its co-sponsors, Texas Representative Candy Noble, called it a "historically significant educational initiative." Critics, however, speak of a blatant attack on the separation of church and state. Particularly noteworthy: a nearly identical law in Louisiana was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal appeals court on Friday. Arkansas is also facing a lawsuit over a similar measure. In an open letter, dozens of Jewish and Christian faith leaders from Texas warned that in a state with nearly six million students and more than 9,000 public schools, it is unacceptable for religious diversity in the classroom to be replaced by a single, state-imposed interpretation. The commandments, they wrote, belong in the heart of faith - not on the wall of a state-run educational institution.
Still, Texas presses on. In parallel, another law was passed that allows schools to offer a daily voluntary prayer or reading period for religious texts during school hours. Opponents speak of a creeping theocratization of public education - driven by conservative majorities and backed by Governor Abbott, who in 2005, as then-state attorney general, successfully argued before the Supreme Court in favor of keeping a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol. Since both Louisiana and Texas fall under the jurisdiction of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a similar ruling could follow. But Texas's Department of Justice is reportedly already preparing for a landmark Supreme Court decision. And so one question remains: what happens when the state uses its authority to dictate religious truth - in a classroom that should belong to everyone? What remains is a country where the right to religious self-determination hangs on the wall.
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