Key Vote Puts Texas Closer to Displaying Ten Commandments in Classrooms

‘The focus of this bill is to look at what is historically important to our nation educationally and judicially,’ a state lawmaker said.

A five-foot-tall stone slab bearing the Ten Commandments stands near the Texas Capitol in Austin on July 29, 2002. Harry Cabluck/AP Photo

The Texas Legislature cleared a major vote on May 24 on a measure that would require the state’s public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

The state’s Republican-majority House of Representatives offered preliminary approval of the measure on May 24, with a final vote to be held in the next few days. If passed, the bill will go to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he would sign it into law.

“The focus of this bill is to look at what is historically important to our nation educationally and judicially,” said state Rep. Candy Noble, a Republican co-sponsor of the bill.

Louisiana and Arkansas have passed similar laws, although Louisiana’s law has been paused after a federal judge deemed it “unconstitutional in every application.”

The judge in the Louisiana case issued a preliminary injunction in November 2024 after several plaintiffs sued the state. In their June 2024 complaint, the plaintiffs argued that posting the Ten Commandments “unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture.”

Those who support displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms assert that the commandments are built into the foundation of the United States’ judicial and educational systems. Detractors argue that the practice would violate the religious freedom of others and cite the Constitution’s separation of church and state.

Recently, the Supreme Court issued a 4–4 vote regarding the fate of a publicly funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. The tie vote effectively upheld an Oklahoma court decision that annulled a state charter school board vote to approve St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The institution would have been the nation’s first religious charter school.

The Texas Legislature also passed a measure that establishes a voluntary period of prayer or time to read a religious text during school hours for both students and staff. The governor is expected to sign the bill.

“We should be encouraging our students to read and study their Bible every day,” Republican state Rep. Brent Money said. “Our kids in our public schools need prayer, need Bible reading, more now than they ever have.”

If passed, Texas’s bill would require public schools to display in classrooms a 16-by-20-inch poster or framed image of a particular English translation of the Ten Commandments. Different denominations, faiths, and languages use varying translations and interpretations of the commandments.

Democratic lawmakers in Texas were unsuccessful in amending the bill on May 24 to require schools to show other religious texts or offer different translations of the Ten Commandments.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.