Latest Breaking News

LetMyPeopleVote

(169,117 posts) Wed Aug 20, 2025, 11:26 AM Aug 20

Judge temporarily blocks Texas' Ten Commandments requirement in 11 school districts

Source: Texas Tribune

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday blocked from taking full effect a new state law requiring public schools to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

The ruling only applies to the nearly a dozen Texas school districts named in the lawsuit, though attorneys who brought forth the lawsuit expressed hope in court that other districts would not implement a law that a federal judge has now found unconstitutional.

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.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/26/texas-schools-commandments-requirement-lawsuit/

Judge temporarily blocks Texasâ€™ Ten Commandments requirement in 11 school districts www.texastribune.org/2025/06/26/t... via @texastribune.org
— (@newmexicanextexan.bsky.social) 2025-08-20T15:22:05.920Z

7 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Judge temporarily blocks Texas' Ten Commandments requirement in 11 school districts (Original Post) LetMyPeopleVote Aug 20 OP

Why post them, most so called Christians don't republianmushroom Aug 20 #1

Thou shalt not create commandments. Be kind. twodogsbarking Aug 20 #2

I think they should be required posting for all Republican offices. ananda Aug 20 #3

the 10 commandments don't occur in the bibles Nigrum Cattus Aug 20 #4

All of the kids with brains would ignore these dumb posters anyway. mwb970 Aug 20 #5

No county, state or nation needs to post the Ten Commandments. The Greeks had ethics, and the Code of Hammurabi.. Beowulf42 Aug 20 #6

MaddowBlog-Court rejects Texas Republicans' law requiring Ten Commandments displays in schools LetMyPeopleVote Aug 20 #7

republianmushroom

(21,212 posts)

1. Why post them, most so called Christians don't

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Aug 20, 2025, 11:51 AM

Aug 20

live by them.

twodogsbarking

(15,448 posts)

2. Thou shalt not create commandments. Be kind.

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Aug 20, 2025, 11:53 AM

Aug 20

ananda

(32,946 posts)

3. I think they should be required posting for all Republican offices.

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Aug 20, 2025, 11:59 AM

Aug 20

And they should be required to follow them.

Nigrum Cattus

(961 posts)

4. the 10 commandments don't occur in the bibles

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:06 PM

Aug 20

It is, once again, made up by people, not any deity.
https://aleteia.org/2021/07/06/there-are-no-10-commandments-in-the-bible/

mwb970

(11,936 posts)

5. All of the kids with brains would ignore these dumb posters anyway.

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:16 PM

Aug 20

I know I would have! It's in the same category as making kids incorrectly mumble the Pledge of Allegiance without ever explaining what any of it means. Dumb.

Beowulf42

(284 posts)

6. No county, state or nation needs to post the Ten Commandments. The Greeks had ethics, and the Code of Hammurabi..

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Aug 20, 2025, 12:27 PM

Aug 20

established norms without the help of a Christian god. It's call humanity and empathy, and we are all born with the instinct to treat others as we would wish to be treated. The goal is to live in Peace.

LetMyPeopleVote

(169,117 posts)

7. MaddowBlog-Court rejects Texas Republicans' law requiring Ten Commandments displays in schools

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Aug 20, 2025, 02:57 PM

Aug 20

The Supreme Court has already ruled against Ten Commandments in classrooms. Republicans in several states are approving new laws anyway.

The Supreme Court has already ruled against state-imposed Ten Commandments displays in classrooms. Republicans keep approving new state laws anyway.

So far this summer, laws in Louisiana, Arkansas, and as of today, Texas, have lost in court. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-08-20T18:28:49.780Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/court-rejects-texas-republicans-law-requiring-ten-commandments-display-rcna226116

Now, Texas has joined the club. The Associated Press reported:

Texas cannot require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a judge said Wednesday in a temporary ruling against the state’s new requirement, making it the third such state law to be blocked by a court. A group of Dallas-area families and faith leaders sought a preliminary injunction against the law, which goes into effect on Sept. 1.

The ruling was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery, who wrote: “Even though the Ten Commandments would not be affirmatively taught, the captive audience of students likely would have questions, which teachers would feel compelled to answer. That is what they do.”

His 55-page ruling began with quoting the First Amendment and ended with “Amen.”....

The Decalogue, the justices ruled in Stone v. Graham, is “undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian faiths” and displaying them “serves no ... educational function.”

So why would Republicans in several states take a step that the Supreme Court has already rejected? It’s probably because they’re confident that the newly politicized high court and its dominant far-right majority will simply overturn the Stone precedent, doing fresh harm to the wall that’s supposed to separate church and state in this country.

These GOP officials are almost certainly aware of the First Amendment, just as they’re almost certainly aware of the Supreme Court precedent that says they cannot legally do what they’re trying to do.

Reply to this discussion