Texas Public Schools Aren’t Sunday Schools

Mickey Dollens is the regional government affairs manager at the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) Action Fund, where he works to uphold the separation between state and church and protect religious liberty for all. Ryan Dudley is the state policy manager at the FFRF Action Fund. Below is an op-ed they submitted addressing Senate Bill 10, the proposed Texas legislation that would require a copy of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all Texas public school classrooms.

Texas House members should uphold their oaths of office and reject Senate Bill 10, which would require all public schools to display a poster of the King James Bible edition of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Voting no on SB 10 doesn’t mean one is anti-religion, but rather pro-Constitution.

Texas’ own Constitution, Article 1, Section 6, ensures “no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society or mode of worship.” Requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms would violate that constitutional provision.

Supporters of SB 10 claim that the United States was founded on the Ten Commandments, yet the U.S. Constitution doesn’t mention God, Christ, Jesus or Christianity. The Founders intentionally excluded religion from the government to protect religious freedom for all. SB 10 is a Texas government mandate that would effectively elevate a specific religion’s text above all the other 1,000-plus IRS-recognized religions.

And various religions and denominations interpret and number the commandments differently. By choosing one version of the Ten Commandments over others, the state would become entangled in theological divisions. This concern was highlighted at 3:30 a.m. during the recent Texas House Public Education Committee hearings, when Austin-based Rabbi Eleanor Steinmann testified: “And which translation? The original is in Hebrew. Is it impossible to post the Ten Commandments without choosing a religion to favor? These tenets of faith have no place in public classrooms.”

House members clashed over the constitutionality of SB 10. Rep. James Talarico directly asked, “Is there a separation of church and state in this country?” The bill’s author, Rep. Candy Lucas, chose to ignore an abundance of court decisions affirming the principle and instead dodged the question by replying, “That’s an interesting question that has been debated a great deal.”

On the Senate floor, Sen. Nathan Johnson read a letter sent to all members of the Texas Legislature by more than 160 faith leaders that urged lawmakers to vote against SB 10. These faith leaders warned that mandating the Ten Commandments in classrooms would violate religious liberty, not protect it.

Texas lawmakers must protect people’s constitutional right to pray, worship, believe, or not believe, however they choose. However, they cannot use their power, given to them by the people, to impose their personal religious beliefs onto the rest of society. Requiring religious texts in public classrooms sends a message that some students belong more than others. That’s not only exclusionary, it’s also a violation of their religious freedom.

SB 10 would do nothing to ensure that Texas public school students are better suited to take on challenges in the real world. This legislation serves only to impose religious beliefs on students. That objective has no place in our secular, pluralistic society — especially not in public schools.


FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.