The FFRF Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” is a group of 166 Texas faith leaders responsible for a recent letter calling on state lawmakers to reject legislation that requires all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
Last week, a group of Texas faith leaders issued a letter to their state senators and representatives, asking them to reject the Ten Commandments legislation currently making its way through the Texas Legislature. SB 10, which would require each Texas classroom to prominently display a government-selected version of the Ten Commandments, passed through the Senate last week and currently sits in the House. HB 1009, an identical bill, sits in the House Committee on Public Education.
A total of 166 faith leaders signed onto the letter, organized by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the Interfaith Alliance, the Sikh Coalition and Texas Impact, an interfaith policy group. The letter contends that Ten Commandments legislation tramples on the religious freedom of all Texans and “is a misguided effort that undermines the faith and freedom we cherish.”
“Both the U.S. and Texas Constitutions guarantee our right, and the right of all Texans, to religious freedom,” the letter reads. “Bills mandating the display of the Ten Commandments demean that freedom.”
The faith leaders maintain that families and religious institutions bear the responsibility for religious education, “not the government.”
“The government oversteps its authority when it dictates an official state-approved version of any religious text,” writes the group. The faith leaders clarify that their communities exist to direct individuals who follow their religion and that government officials are not needed. The letter declares that “these unconstitutional bills undermine religious freedom by putting the state in a role of religious authority.”
“We also recognize that the Ten Commandments hold no religious meaning for thousands of Texans,” highlight the faith leaders. “The Ten Commandments are held in a different light for the many students in our state who are Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Unitarian Universalist, or who practice other religions or no religion at all.”
The group concludes its letter by saying, “We do not need to — and indeed should not — turn public schools into Sunday schools.”
“As people of faith, we take our scriptural traditions seriously — we train and ordain leaders to impart those distinctive teachings to our children,” Bee Moorhead, executive director of Texas Impact, says. “It is highly inappropriate for elected officials to appropriate the scripture of any faith tradition and use it for a secular purpose. Public schools have a vital job to do, and it does not include promulgating religious beliefs.”
Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, declares, “Faith isn’t something the government can force on kids in a classroom.” Tyler received the 2023 Champion of the First Amendment Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the parent organization of the FFRF Action Fund. “And in America, we don’t need the government playing preacher. Texas lawmakers need to do the right thing and leave faith where it belongs: with the people,” Tyler continues.
Upneet Kaur, the senior education manager of the Sikh Coalition, says, “Our public institutions have a responsibility to remain neutral in matters of religion. … One faith should never be elevated or preferenced over all others in an educational setting.”
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, vice president of programs and strategy at the Interfaith Alliance, states, “Public schools should be inclusive spaces where all students feel respected, not places where one narrow and stilted interpretation of faith is imposed on everyone.”
The FFRF Action Fund thanks these faith leaders for speaking out against the Christian nationalist legislation that is making its way through the Texas Statehouse. The Texas Legislature should vote down these unconstitutional bills.
The 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.