In displaying the moral law that underpins Western civilization and the American judiciary, Texas is reminding its students that there is a higher standard by which all truth and justice are measured.
Public schools across Texas will soon be required to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom under a new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, R. The move has ignited praise from conservative religious leaders and legal challenges from secular faith leaders and civil rights advocates.
Senate Bill 10 mandates that all public schools post a specific version of the Ten Commandments in a 16-by-20-inch framed display or poster beginning on September 1, 2025. The measure makes Texas the largest state to enact such a requirement.
“Texas is where the American dream lives,” Abbott said in a statement after signing the bill on June 21. “Today, I signed critical legislation passed in the 89th Regular Legislative Session that protects the safety of Texans and safeguards the individual freedoms that our great state was founded on. Working with the Texas Legislature, we will keep Texas the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Alongside S.B. 10, Abbott signed Senate Bills 11 and 965, which authorize school districts to designate a voluntary daily period during school hours for students and staff to pray or read religious texts.
Supporters of the legislation, including national conservative organizations and religious freedom advocacy groups, argue that the new laws reflect recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on public expressions of faith. They point to the 2022 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which the High Court upheld a Washington state football coach’s right to pray publicly on the field after games.
“This is a Texas-sized blessing that the Ten Commandments will now be displayed for students to see, much like the Ten Commandments Monument at the Texas Capitol and in the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values, a group that championed the bill.
“Governor Abbott fulfilled the law by signing SB 10 today, making it clear that there will be a Ten Commandments displayed in every Texas public school classroom,” he added.
Matt Krause, of First Liberty Institute, also celebrated the legislation as a reflection of America’s founding principles.
“Displaying the Ten Commandments and national motto and allowing students and teachers to express their faith in Texas classrooms is consistent with Supreme Court precedent that recognizes the country’s religious heritage and the best of the nation’s history and traditions,” Krause said. “The Ten Commandments are a symbol of law and moral conduct with both religious and secular significance which provide valuable lessons for students.”
Critics argue that the law violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and could alienate students of different religious backgrounds across the state’s nearly six million public school students.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas condemned the law as unconstitutional.
“We all have the right to decide what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice,” the group wrote in a statement. “Government officials have no business intruding on these deeply personal religious matters. S.B. 10 will subject students to state-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments for nearly every hour of their public education. It is religiously coercive and interferes with families’ right to direct children’s religious education.”
Other states have struggled to implement similar laws. Earlier this month, a panel for the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals struck down Louisiana’s law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school and university classroom, ruling that it is “plainly unconstitutional.”
This unanimous decision upheld a lower court’s November 2024 injunction, finding the law violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The judges cited the 1980 Supreme Court precedent Stone v. Graham, which invalidated a similar Kentucky law due to its lack of secular purpose. Louisiana’s attorney general has signaled plans to appeal to the full Fifth Circuit and then, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abbott, a former Texas attorney general is no stranger to the debate. In 2005, he successfully defended the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds in the Supreme Court case Van Orden v. Perry.
He expects to defend this law successfully as well, writing on X: “Faith and freedom are the foundation of our nation. If anyone sues, we’ll win that battle.”
With SB 10 set to take effect in the fall, school districts are now preparing for implementation and potential legal challenges. Religious liberty organizations on both sides of the debate are watching closely, as the law could set a precedent for similar measures nationwide.
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith,” Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in his book Democracy in America, a book that not only highlighted the greatness of America but rightly determined that this greatness was the direct result of its Christian faith.
Public schools today often promote secular ideologies that claim to be moral while rejecting the biblical foundation that defines true right and wrong. For instance, schools have endorsed the idea that exposing children to explicit content, such as drag shows or graphic sexual materials, is “healthy” or “empowering.” They advance abortion as a compassionate choice for teens and push racialized grading standards that suggest minority students should be passed along without meeting basic academic benchmarks.
These aren’t examples of moral progress but of moral collapse. By removing objective truth, schools have replaced God’s law with subjective preferences that often harm the very students they claim to protect.
Texas’ decision to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms stands in direct contrast to these harmful trends. Scripture provides a timeless moral compass. God’s law commands respect for life, sexual purity, and truth.
As Deuteronomy 6 instructs, we are to teach these truths diligently to our children. Unlike the shifting values of secular humanism, God’s Word provides clarity, conviction, and hope. In reintroducing the Ten Commandments, Texas is not pushing religion — it is restoring moral sanity and reminding young hearts that there is a higher standard by which all truth and justice are measured.
If you like this article and other content that helps you apply a biblical worldview to today’s politics and culture, consider making a donation here.
