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Texas is moving closer to requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools and allowing for school prayer. Other states are considering similar bills after a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that appeared to allow for more religion in public schools. Houston Public Media's Andrew Schneider reports.
ANDREW SCHNEIDER, BYLINE: Early last week, the Texas State Senate passed a bill to allow for prayer and Bible readings in public schools. The next day, it passed another bill to require every public school classroom in the state to display the Ten Commandments.
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PHIL KING: Our kids are crying out for moral clarity, crying out for it.
SCHNEIDER: Republican State Senator Phil King, who represents a district west of Fort Worth, authored the Ten Commandments bill.
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KING: And I think it's so important for them to walk in and see something that has been part of our tradition and been part of our history for as far back as they'll read - almost as far back as they'll read in studying world history.
SCHNEIDER: Democratic State Senator Sarah Eckhardt of Austin called the bill unconstitutional.
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SARAH ECKHARDT: Politics masquerading as faith is the evil the separation between church and state is designed to prevent. To ensure religious freedom for all, we must never establish a state-sanctioned religion. And that is what this bill does.
SCHNEIDER: A Louisiana Ten Commandments law passed last year has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge over its constitutionality. Over a dozen states are considering bills this year, but some have stalled so far in Montana, Georgia and the Dakotas. Some lawmakers were concerned about potential court challenges, but support among Texas lawmakers for these bills seems strong. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Republican, made his stance clear while welcoming the Senate's Chaplain of the Day.
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DAN PATRICK: Yesterday, we passed a bill on this floor, bipartisan, to put prayer back in public school. And later today, we will pass a bill to put the Ten Commandments in our schools. Thank you for a lifetime of serving the Lord. This is a Christ-centered legislative body.
SCHNEIDER: Democratic senators argued that there are at least hundreds of thousands of Texans who don't consider themselves Christian. But amendments to post sacred texts of other faiths in public schools failed. The Ten Commandments and prayer bills are now under consideration in the Texas House of Representatives.
For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston.
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