Texas Senate pushing for prayer, Ten Commandments in public schools
The Texas Senate has passed a pair of bills to introduce religion in public schools.
One would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom, while the other would allow school boards to provide students and staff with daily time for prayer and scripture reading.
"You really have to ask the question, are we better off or are we worse off since prayer was taken out of public school in the 1960s? and I think I know what the answer to that is," said State Senator Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, who filed Senate Bill 11. "We're worse off."
Senate Bill 11 gives school boards the ability to adopt a policy requiring all campuses to give students and staff time during the school day to pray and read the Bible or another religious text. Parents would have to sign a consent form for their child to participate.
"No one's going to be coerced," Middleton said.
Critics say students and staff are already allowed to pray in school if they want.
"Likewise, if someone takes their Bible to school, there's nothing at all to prevent them from reading it," said Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at SMU. "So this invents a practice that isn't needed because these activities are already allowed under current law."
Chancey believes state lawmakers are trying to push a particular version of Christianity in public schools.
"That would be a move that jeopardizes all of our religious freedom," he said. "Public schools are for the atheist, the agnostic, the Christian, the Buddhist, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Sikh, the Jewish person. Promoting one religion over others is an affront to all Texans because we're all paying for these schools with our taxes, and every child should be welcomed and affirmed in public schools, regardless of their religious identity."
The Senate also passed Senate Bill 10, which mandates every classroom in elementary and secondary schools display a particular version of the Ten Commandments. It has to be at least 16x20 inches.
Lt. Gov Dan Patrick, the Republican who presides over the Senate, has indicated SB 10 and SB 11 as priority bills for this legislative session.
"A moment of voluntary prayer and the posting of the Ten Commandments are so much a part of the history and tradition of our nation that the founders of our nation would wonder why the Texas legislature even needs to pass a law about it," said Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, a legal organization dedicated to defending religious liberty. "These proposed laws are consistent with several U.S. Supreme Court decisions that welcome the recognition of our religious heritage and reflect the best of the nation's traditions."
One hundred sixty-six Texas faith leaders sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to vote against the bill in order to protect religious freedoms. It points out that "the text of the display mandated by these bills manages to produce a hodgepodge of scripture that includes twelve, not ten, commandments and fails to reflect the beliefs of many Christian and Jewish communities."
"That deeply troubles me as a Biblical scholar, as a Christian, as a person of faith," Chancey said. "The government has no business deciding what translation of the Bible people need to be reading, much less promoting that particular translation in public schools."
This is the version that must be posted if the bill becomes law:
"The Ten Commandments
I AM the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
Rev. Cathy Sweeney, a pastor at Arapaho United Methodist Church, is also worried posting the Ten Commandments on display may force teachers of different beliefs and backgrounds to answer questions on complex subjects like adultery and coveting a neighbor's wife.
"Having words like 'maidservant,' is that really what we want to teach our kindergartners?" Sweeney said. "It's inappropriate because it oversteps that boundary of religion and government… And I believe there's a vast number of people who are opposed to this bill because they believe that religious education belongs within the family and in their faith communities."
Both bills still have the pass the Texas House before becoming law.
