FFRF Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” is Chloe Kempf, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas.
At the end of May, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, FFRF Action Fund’s parent organization, along with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU and the ACLU of Texas announced plans to sue Texas over a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, even before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation. When Abbott did sign the bill into law over the past weekend, Kempf asserted: “Texas schools are not Sunday schools.”
Texas is set to implement on Sept. 1 its law requiring all state classrooms to prominently display a specific version of the Ten Commandments selected by lawmakers. Texas is the largest state in the country attempting to mandate Ten Commandments displays, joining Louisiana and Arkansas.
Both Louisiana and Arkansas have faced substantial legal challenges to their laws. Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law was ruled unconstitutional twice by federal courts, including by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Texas, too. FFRF is also part of the coalitions leading the lawsuits in Louisiana and Arkansas against the respective states’ Ten Commandments laws.
Advocates for requiring Christian displays in all Texas classrooms argue that Christianity was invaluable in the nation’s founding and that the commandments provide moral and legal guidance. When the legislation was making its way through the Texas Statehouse, co-sponsor Texas state Rep. Candy Noble said: “It is incumbent on all of us to follow God’s law, and I think we would all be better off if we did.”
Kempf explains that the law is “blatantly unconstitutional” and that a broad coalition of parents, including those of Christian faith, is concerned that the legislation is an example of the government’s intrusion into individual religious practice and parental rights. Kempf said: “[Parents] might be totally okay with their kids seeing the Ten Commandments or using that as foundational moral teaching. But what most Texans do not seem to be okay with is essentially letting the government lead religious instruction.”
“When we’re pushing religion into public life and letting the government guide how it’s talked about or how our kids interact with religion, it’s really cheapening that sacred bond that should lie between families and faith leaders to guide the religious instruction of children,” said Kempf.
FFRF Action Fund thanks Kempf for her work in keeping the forced display of the Ten Commandments out of public school classrooms. Religious coercion has no place in Texas schools.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.