Texas' Ten Commandments in schools law challenged by families and faith leaders in lawsuit
Desk Report-26 June 2025
Puplish- Jhon Dee
A coalition of families and religious leaders from the Dallas area has initiated legal action to prevent a new Texas law mandating that copies of the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom.
The federal lawsuit, submitted on Tuesday, asserts that the legislation constitutes an unconstitutional breach of the separation of church and state.
Texas joins other states that have faced legal opposition for similar mandates, with a federal appeals court recently halting a comparable law in Louisiana. Families have also brought lawsuits against Arkansas’s law.
The plaintiffs in the Texas lawsuit include a diverse group of Christian and Nation of Islam leaders as well as families. The defendants named in the suit are the Texas Education Agency, state education Commissioner Mike Morath, and three school districts in the Dallas area.
“The government should manage public affairs; the Church should focus on spiritual guidance,” the lawsuit stated. “Any deviation from this principle poses a danger to both our democracy and our faith.”
Laws relating to the Ten Commandments are part of a broader trend, predominantly in states led by conservatives, to incorporate religious principles into public education. Proponents argue that the Ten Commandments are foundational to the United States' legal and educational framework and therefore deserve to be displayed.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott approved the Ten Commandments law on June 21. He has also implemented a law that mandates school districts offer students and staff a daily voluntary opportunity for prayer or time to read a religious text during school hours.
The Texas Education Agency has not yet responded to a request for comment sent via email.
Abbott, who served as Texas attorney general in 2005 when he argued successfully before the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state Capitol, defended the law regarding classrooms on social media this past Wednesday.
“Faith and freedom are the core principles of our nation,” Abbott wrote on X. “If anyone files a lawsuit, we will prevail in that fight.”
Critics argue that the measures related to the Ten Commandments and prayer violate the religious freedoms of others, and more legal actions are anticipated. The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have announced plans to file lawsuits contesting the Ten Commandments law.
According to the new legislation, public schools are required to display in classrooms a poster or framed copy of a specific English version of the commandments that is at least 16-by-20 inches (41-by-51 centimeters), despite the fact that interpretations and translations differ across various denominations, faiths, and languages, as well as in homes and places of worship.
The lawsuit highlights that Texas has nearly 6 million students enrolled in roughly 9,100 public schools, including many students following faiths that have little or no connection to the Ten Commandments, or students who may not adhere to any faith at all.
The Texas Education Agency did not promptly respond to a request for comment sent via email. The law is set to take effect on September 1, although most public school districts will begin the upcoming school year in August.
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