A group of faith leaders in the United States have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state of Texas from requiring the Ten Commandments, as detailed in the Old Testament of the Bible, to be displayed in public classrooms.
Their legal challenge on Tuesday comes just days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the legislation, which would make Texas the largest state in the country to impose such a requirement.
In the lawsuit, the Christian and Muslim faith leaders argue that the law would subject nearly six million students across Texas’s 9,100 public schools to “religious mandates, every single school day”.
“This is wholly inconsistent with the fundamental religious-freedom principles … upon which our nation was founded,” said the lawsuit.
It further noted that children who attend public schools in Texas “follow various faiths and religions, or do not practice any religion at all”.
The US Constitution protects the right to practice — or not practice — a religion without interference from the government.
Meanwhile, the concept of the “separation of church and state” has long been seen as a bedrock principle in US law. While it is not directly referred to in the US Constitution, its roots have been traced back to the US colonial period.
Thomas Jefferson, the country’s third president, used the phrase to discuss the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from making laws “respecting an establishment of religion”. The concept has also been upheld by several Supreme Court rulings.
Still, a handful of conservative-led states have sought to pass laws mixing public education with elements from the Christian religion.
In 2024, Louisiana became the first state in the US to mandate displaying of the Ten Commandments in public schools. Last week, a federal appeals court blocked the requirement.
Arkansas also passed a similar law in April, which several groups say they plan to challenge.
Proponents of those kinds of laws argue that the Ten Commandments have historical significance beyond their religious context and are foundational to US society.
A sponsor of the Texas bill, Candy Noble, said the requirement to show the Ten Commandments concerns “what is historically important to our nation educationally and judicially”.
In Biblical narrative, the Ten Commandments were scrolled on two stone tablets and given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. Moses was then given the instruction to spread the teaching.
The commandments include rules such as “Thou shall not kill” and “Thou shall not steal”, as well as prohibitions against other gods, taking “the Lord’s name in vain” and not honouring the Sabbath day.
The Texas law requires public schools to display a poster or framed copy of an English version of the commandments, which should be no smaller than 16 by 20 inches or 41 by 51 centimetres.
Translations and interpretations, however, vary across denominations, faiths and languages and may differ in homes and houses of worship.
Several other groups have also vowed to challenge the law. They include the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
In a statement in May, the groups said the law “is religiously coercive and interferes with families’ right to direct children’s religious education”.
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