Judge to rule before Sept. 1 on Texas’ Ten Commandments requirement in public schools

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ACLU and the state’s attorneys ended oral arguments Monday after sparring over freedom of religion protections and historical influence of the biblical directives.

A Texas federal judge will decide before Sept. 1 whether to block from taking effect a new state law requiring public schools to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

Oral arguments in the case, Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, concluded on Monday, several weeks after 16 parents of various religious backgrounds, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and other religious freedom organizations, sued the state over what their lawyers called “catastrophically unconstitutional” legislation.

In court, they argued with a lawyer from the state attorney general’s office over the role Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison played in developing the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment, which protects the freedom of religion. Both parties also debated the influence of the Ten Commandments on the country’s legal and educational systems, and whether the version of the Ten Commandments required to go up in schools belongs to a particular religious group.

The ruling will determine whether nearly a dozen Texas school districts named in the lawsuit can move forward with implementation of the law as the case makes its way through the court process. Another group of parents filed a similar lawsuit in Dallas earlier this summer.

These suits challenge one of the latest measures passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year. Critics say the law injects religion into the state’s public schools, attended by roughly 5.5 million children.

The background

Senate Bill 10, by Republican Sen. Phil King of Weatherford, would require the Ten Commandments be displayed on a donated poster sized at least 16 by 20 inches come September, when most new state laws go into effect. Gov. Greg Abbott signed it in late June, the day after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found a similar law in Louisiana was “plainly unconstitutional.” The court ruled that requiring schools to post the Ten Commandments would cause an “irreparable deprivation” of First Amendment rights. An Arkansas judge ruled similarly in a separate case.

Supporters argue that the Ten Commandments and teachings of Christianity broadly are vital to understanding U.S. history, a controversial message that has resurged in recent years as part of a broader national movement to undermine the long-held interpretation of church-state separation. Texas GOP lawmakers have passed a number of laws in recent years to further codify their conservative religious views, a trend encouraged and celebrated by Christian leaders.

“This issue is likely to get to the United States Supreme Court,” U.S. District Judge Fred Biery told a San Antonio courtroom prior to opening arguments in the Texas case.

Biery’s decision will answer whether the court believes implementation of SB 10 would constitute religious coercion from the state.

What are the plaintiffs saying

“Posting the Ten Commandments in public schools is un-American and un-Baptist,” Griff Martin, a pastor, parent and plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit, said in a statement. “S.B. 10 undermines the separation of church and state as a bedrock principle of my family’s Baptist heritage. Baptists have long held that the government has no role in religion — so that our faith may remain free and authentic.”

In the lawsuit brought by the North Texas parents, the plaintiffs, who identify as Christian, said the law was unconstitutional and violated their right to direct their children’s upbringing.

One of them, a Christian minister, said the displays will offer a message of religious intolerance, “implying that anyone who does not believe in the state’s official religious scripture is an outsider and not fully part of the community.” That message, the minister argued, conflicts with the religious, social justice and civil rights beliefs he seeks to teach his kids.

Another North Texas plaintiff, a mother of two, is worried she will be “forced” to have sensitive and perhaps premature conversations about topics like adultery with her young children — and also “does not desire that her minor children to be instructed by their school about the biblical conception of adultery,” the suit states.

The plaintiffs in the ACLU suit come from diverse religious backgrounds, including families who are nonreligious. Allison Fitzpatrick said in a statement that she fears her children will think they are violating school rules because they don’t adhere to commandments like honoring the Sabbath.

“The state of Texas has no right to dictate to children how many gods to worship, which gods to worship, or whether to worship any gods at all,” sad Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which brought the lawsuit alongside the ACLU.

The attorneys called the version of the Ten Commandments in SB 10 a “state-sponsored Protestant version,” which was corroborated by their witness, constitutional law professor and religious history expert Steven Green. They argued against the notion that the Ten Commandments were central to the development of the country’s legal and educational systems, which Green agreed lacks historical support.

Although the ACLU lawsuit only applies to 11 school districts, attorneys for the religious freedom organizations hope that a ruling in their favor will signal to districts throughout the rest of the state that they should not comply with the law before the dispute gets resolved by the courts.

What the state is saying

The attorney general’s office argued in the August hearing that the Ten Commandments are part of the nation’s history and heritage, and that previous rulings from federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court blocking the commandments from going up in classrooms did not examine that historical significance.

Attorneys for the state noted that the Supreme Court recently shot down the test that courts previously relied on to determine when a government had unconstitutionally endorsed or established a religion. And, attorneys pointed out a decades-old ruling in a Nebraska case, regarding a Ten Commandments monument on city property, where an appeals court decided in favor of the monument that displayed the same version of the commandments Texas wants to show in public schools. They relied on that ruling to make the case that SB 10 does not favor a particular religious group.

Their viewpoint was supported in court by Mark David Hall, a professor and author who studies religious liberty and church-state relations. Hall, the state’s expert witness, recently wrote a book that considers how “Christian Nationalism Is Not an Existential Threat to America or the Church.”

Attorney William Farrell from the attorney general’s office described SB 10’s requirement as a “passive display on the wall” that does not rise to the level of coercion. The Ten Commandments posters must only go up if they are donated to the school, he further argued, and the law does not specify what would happen if districts choose not to comply. The state views that as evidence that it poses no threat or harm to families.

“SB 10 doesn’t restrict anything,” Farrell said. “It doesn’t exclude anything or specifically require any … participation by students.”

What are the schools saying

Attorneys from Austin ISD, a defendant in the ACLU lawsuit, said during the August hearing that the district has not adopted any policy in response to SB 10, that there is no evidence that the district is doing anything to infringe on families’ rights and that the district should not be held responsible for a law passed by the Legislature. They are asking the court to dismiss the Austin school district from the complaint.

Meanwhile, spokespersons for the Texas Education Agency, a defendant in the North Texas suit, did not respond to requests for comment. The TEA was not included as a defendant in the ACLU’s more recent filing.

A Lancaster ISD spokesperson said that the district was aware of the suit and monitoring it but did not have further comment. A Dallas ISD spokesperson said the district does not comment on pending litigation.

DeSoto ISD administrators said in a statement that the school system, which teaches roughly 6,000 kids, operates in alignment with state and federal laws and also remains committed to creating an inclusive learning environment “for all students and families, regardless of religious background or personal beliefs.”

“DeSoto ISD recognizes the diverse cultural and religious identities represented in its school community and will continue to prioritize the safety, dignity, and educational well-being of every student,” district officials said. “The district respects the role of parents and guardians in guiding their children’s personal and religious development and will strive to remain sensitive to the varying perspectives within its schools.”

Source: Jaden Edison, Eleanor Klibanoff and Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune

Photo Credit: A new Texas law requires that public schools must display the Ten Commandments, as seen on a monument at the state Capitol in Austin, on a poster in classrooms. Credit: Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA Press Wire via REUTERS

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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