Texas Senate approves bill requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments
Texas Senate approves bill requiring all classrooms to display the Ten Commandments on the wall across all grades
- The bill requires Texas schools to prominently display the Ten Commandments
- It was introduced by Sen. Phil King who said the text was part of US heritage
- It now passes to the House for consideration but would face legal challenge
The Texas Senate approved a bill Thursday that would force public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
It will now move to the state House of Representatives for consideration.
Religious hardliners welcomed the victory, but it sparked immediate criticism that it was an unconstitutional move to end the separation of church and state.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Phil King, and would require schools to prominently display the Christian text.
He said it was simply a part of American heritage.
‘[The bill] will remind students all across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America,’ he said during a hearing, according to the Texas Tribune.
A tablet of the Ten Commandments, which is located on the grounds of the Texas Capitol Building in Austin. On Thursday the Texas Senate approved a bill to display the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms
It specifies the text to be used and says it must be ‘legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.’
If it passes the House and is signed into law it will almost certainly face legal challenge.
But King has argued that the Supreme Court paved the the way for his bill with its ruling over the case of Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Washington state who was fired for praying at football games. The court said he was praying as a private citizen, not as a district employee.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick welcomed passage of the bill.
‘Allowing the Ten Commandments and prayer back into our public schools is one step we can take to make sure that all Texans have the right to freely express their sincerely held religious beliefs,’ he said.
‘I believe that you cannot change the culture of the country until you change the culture of mankind. Bringing the Ten Commandments and prayer back to our public schools will enable our students to become better Texans.’
The bill was introduced by Sen. Phil King, and would require schools to prominently display the Christian text in classrooms
But it quickly sent ‘Separation of Church and State’ trending on Twitter, as social media users raised concerns.
‘Conservatives pretend to love the Constitution but completely ignore the separation of church and state,’ said author Brian O’Sullivan.
‘Their raging hypocrisy has no bottom.’
The Texas Senate also approved a bill requiring schools to set aside time for prayer.