The recent state law forcing public K-12 schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms is a blatant violation of the freedom of religion.
This law being passed and signed is a worrying sign that the line that separates church and state is becoming more blurred as Republican lawmakers take advantage of a politically chaotic America to turn this nation backward.
Attorney General Ken Paxton instructed Texas schools in an Aug. 25 press release to display the Ten Commandments, saying the text is “irrevocably intertwined” with American heritage.
“The woke radicals seeking to erase our nation’s history will be defeated,” he said. “I will not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country.”
The phrasing of Paxton’s statement also shows how modern conservative politics revolves around going “back to the old days” and emphasizes traditional American values.
These laws aren’t meant to bring American forward. It shows that lawmakers are willing to turn the course of American history backward to avoid the changes the world is collectively heading toward.
More pressingly, this law is aimed directly at the future generation of Americans who will take over the reins once their time comes.
But these Americans are not just Christian.
According to Pew Research Center, 62% of U.S. adults identified as Christian, 7% identified with other religions and 29% were unaffiliated with religion. That is a significant portion of Americans who would not agree with first of the Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
The classroom is a space of learning and freedom of thought. Children go there to learn about the world, history and culture. To have these students, many of whom are not Christian, see the Ten Commandments during every class will only say one thing: America backs Christians and no one else.
Some have been fighting against this law.
Several school districts were sued after the bill was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 20, and the law was temporarily blocked by a federal judge, so some school districts are exempt from the law for now.
Another suit was also recently filed against other school districts, including some in the Dallas-Fort Worth area like Fort Worth, Azle, Arlington, Mansfield and Northwest.
Teachers across Texas are fighting back by decorating around the Ten Commandments with other religious texts, creating buttons with the First Amendment written on it to promote discussions about religious freedom and some are even risking their jobs by choosing not to display it.
It’s clear that many Texas teachers do not agree with this law and believe it will negatively affect their students. According to an NBC News article, some teachers are worried that the display of the Ten Commandments would give the message that the law favors one religion over others and spark conversations that they don’t want to have while in a school setting.
Some teachers also say that some of what appears in the Ten Commandments would not make sense to younger children, with one example being how one commandment says, ” You shall not commit adultery.”
The Founding Fathers laid the foundation of what the United States would become hundreds of years ago. In a letter to the Danbury Baptists, Thomas Jefferson emphasized his belief that religion was a matter between man and God, while emphasizing the importance of “building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
The Bill of Rights’ first clause directly addresses this matter, saying definitively “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Yet, Texas lawmakers have failed their citizens by violating this principle.
