A federal judge has temporarily blocked several Texas school districts from enforcing a law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery’s Aug. 20 ruling came less than two weeks before the Texas law, known as SB10, is set to go into effect on Sept. 1. The Texas attorney general has vowed to appeal.
The plaintiffs, a group of both religious and nonreligious families represented by organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, sued an array of school districts in July, saying the law violated the First Amendment.
Biery concurred, writing that the law favors Christian denominations over other traditions and is “likely to burden Plaintiffs’ exercise of their sincere religious or nonreligious beliefs in substantial ways.”
He further said that the law would interfere with parents’ rights to guide their children’s upbringing and is “likely to send an exclusionary and spiritually burdensome message” to children whose religious beliefs do not conform to the particular Judeo-Christian version of scripture required for the displays.
