We should display Ten Commandments in Texas schools. New court ruling means we can | Opinion
We need the Ten Commandments restored to our school’s classrooms perhaps now more than ever. Our youth need clarity on the historical and moral foundation of our country and its freedoms. Our history and tradition recognize the central importance the Ten Commandments have played in the foundation of Western civilization, and a proposed law in the Legislature would rightfully return them to schools.
Some politicians and pundits have taken issue with Sen. Phil King’s measure, Senate Bill 1515, which would allow the commandments to be posted in each public-school classroom. Among other concerns, some have argued that this proposal might violate the First Amendment.
But the bill is good policy — constitutionally and morally.
Were this bill proposed before 2022, opponents would be right that it would probably not pass constitutional muster. That is because in 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky statute that allowed for the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, a case known as in Stone v. Graham.
The 5-4 decision relied on a test established in a previous case, Lemon v. Kurtzman. The Lemon test, as it came to be known, was a convoluted three-pronged analysis by which religious policies were deemed constitutional or not. It was used in hundreds of other cases over the years.That all changed last year. In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, a high school football coach was told by his school district he could no longer kneel at midfield after games and offer a prayer of thanksgiving. Coach Joseph Kennedy, a client of the Plano-based First Liberty Institute client, where I do legal work, fought all the way to the Supreme Court, and in 2022, the court found that he had the right to pray.
The justices also recognized that the Lemon test was wrong and relegated it to the ash bin of history. So, the sole basis for the ruling in Stone v. Graham has been rendered moot and meritless. The Court replaced the Lemon test with a standard of looking at “history and tradition” to determine whether a religious display is valid. Under the history and tradition standard, the commandments bill passes constitutional muster.
The bill easily passes the history and tradition test because the Decalogue is the foundation of our legal system. In fact, the Ten Commandments serve as the basis for all of western civilization.
The commandments were a prominent part of American education for almost three centuries before the Court’s 1980 decision. A brief review of some of America’s most famous textbooks and educators affirms it.
The first public school law in America was enacted in 1642 in Massachusetts; Connecticut followed in 1647. Early American schools originally relied on imported textbooks, but in 1690 the first purely American textbook was published by Benjamin Harris in Boston. Called the New England Primer, it was the equivalent of a first-grade textbook. Despite its regional name, it was used throughout the entire United States and quickly became the textbook from which American students learned to read.
It was used in schools during four different centuries, including the 20th. Its content remained relatively intact across that time, including a section with 43 questions about the Ten Commandments. Founding Father Samuel Adams reprinted it in Massachusetts, as did Noah Webster in Connecticut and Benjamin Franklin in Pennsylvania.
It is right and good to remind students of the basis of our nation and state’s liberties and freedoms. Our country is rare in that it believes that our fundamental liberties are endowed by our Creator and that no government can take them away. Our Founding Fathers believed this to be beneficial, and the need is just as strong, if not stronger, today.
Posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms complies with the First Amendment. SB 1515 is a positive step forward for our state’s public school children. The history and tradition of the Decalogue in American and Texas history is unparalleled.
From school houses, to government buildings, to the arts and entertainment, the Ten Commandments has been ubiquitous in society. SB 1515 continues that tradition and should become law.
