The ten commandments, which are moral and ethical guidelines for the Christian, Judaist, and Islamic faith, are now required to be displayed in every Texas classroom, according to a law signed by governor Greg Abbott on September 1, 2025. Understandably, teachers, religious groups, and even civil rights activists protest against this law, and people are taking action to take it down.
This law should be removed immediately, since it violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, can negatively affect the lives of students and their families, and violates the separation of church and state by endorsing a specific religious viewpoint and implicitly promoting one religion over others.
The ten commandments shouldn’t be required to be displayed in all classrooms because it violates the Establishment Clause. According to the United States Courts website, “The Establishment clause prohibits the government from ‘establishing’ a religion.” Right now, the Texas government is forcing schools to enforce these guidelines in every single classroom, with the potential for a lawsuit if they don’t. Basically, this means that if schools in Texas don’t display rules from specific religions, the government will punish them. If things continue to escalate from here, who knows what’s next with schools and religion; how many other laws that have been long standing in the constitution for over 300 years would now be broken?
Punishment from the government is not the only thing schools should fear with the 10 commandments. Public schools are, by definition, a place for secular education, where students learn about religion from a non-biased view for educational purposes. This law toes the line between learning about a religion and practicing it. And because of it, kids can face discrimination if they follow a religion outside of these commandments or follow no religion. School shapes the perspectives of younger students’ lives. What they are exposed to in their early school years often become the morals that affect their entire life. If the ten commandments go beyond display in classrooms to become even slightly more interactive in a student’s life, it could be severely problematic. And whether it is from discrimination or genuinely having these commandments shape children’s viewpoints, it can cause disruptions within families who hold different beliefs. If the ten commandments continue to be required in classrooms, it could progress to breaking families in the future.
Finally, this law, requiring the 10 commandments to be put up in every classroom, violates the separation of church and state, as the government promotes Abrahamic religions over many others. According to Pew Research Center, 26% of the people in Texas don’t follow any religion and 4% are Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist (not Christian). If any of these religions find that their views aren’t being respected as much as others, our government could face potential backlash from them. Supporters of the 10 commandments in classrooms state that it promotes foundational ethical principles and provides a universal moral compass for students. However, all of these viewpoints seem to be from people who follow these religions themselves. What would they say if the Texas government promoted the “moral guidelines of Scientology” to serve as a moral compass for students, which include opposing psychiatry and advocating for the destruction of critics? Many people would oppose these laws, yet millions of people follow this religion and would also argue that it promotes foundational ethical principles. All of this talk about a moral compass is raised off of one’s own personal beliefs. No religion is inherently better than another, and for that reason it is wrong for supporters of the ten commandments to be displayed in every classroom to base it off of its morality reasons. Every student is different and many would not want to follow those beliefs for their own conscience.
The ten commandments shouldn’t be allowed to be displayed in public school classrooms as it violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, can negatively affect the lives of students and their families, and violates the separation of church and state by endorsing a specific religious viewpoint and implicitly promoting one religion over others. In America’s history, the Supreme Court has tried many court cases intending to ensure that religion and public school do not mix. In fact, in 1980, a Kentucky case called Stone v Grant specifically had the Supreme Court take down the requirement of schools having to display the 10 commandments in classrooms because it violated the establishment clause. It’s sad to see that as time progresses, we are moving backwards, and the wise decisions we made in the past to make America what it is today are once again being turned upon. We already have so many problems just alone in the state of Texas that are so much more important than this; we are not in need of more. By removing the need for the 10 commandments in each classroom , the Texas government would remove countless problems that this poses so that our state can focus on more pressing issues. It takes one simple action; just remove the bill.