Texas state Senate approves bill to post Ten Commandments in public schools

The Texas state Senate approved a bill on Thursday that would require public schools in the Lone Star state to prominently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

The legislation, which passed the chamber with a 17-12 vote entirely along party lines, next heads to the state House of Representatives.

State Sen. Phil King (R), who authored the measure, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that such displays of the Ten Commandments acknowledge “the role that fundamental religious documents and principles had in American heritage and law.”

The Republican lawmaker noted that his new legislation comes in direct response to the Supreme Court’s decision last June in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. 

In the case, the justices sided with a high school football coach who was conducting prayers with students during and after games and threw out the Lemon Test, which was previously used to evaluate whether legislation violates the Establishment Clause.

“This legislation only became legally feasible with the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Lemon Test,” King said at the committee hearing. “I think this would be a good healthy step for Texas to bring back this tradition of recognizing America’s religious heritage.”

Another bill passed in the Texas state Senate on Thursday would allow school districts to require campuses provide a “period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) touted both bills as part of the fight for “religious liberty in Texas.”

“Allowing the Ten Commandments and prayer back into our public schools is one step we can take to make sure that all Texans have the right to freely express their sincerely held religious beliefs,” Patrick said in a statement.

“I believe that you cannot change the culture of the country until you change the culture of mankind,” he added. “Bringing the Ten Commandments and prayer back to our public schools will enable our students to become better Texans.”

A growing number of elected Republicans are increasingly questioning the separation between church and state.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) faced backlash last June when she said she was “tired of this separation of church and state junk.”

“The reason we had so many overreaching regulations in our nation is because the church complied,” Boebert said at the time. “The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also suggested last July that the GOP should embrace Christian nationalism, or the ideology that the U.S. is a Christian nation and should make laws rooted in Christian values.