FFRF Action Fund names U.S. Rep. Chip Roy as its “Theocrat of the Week,” along with more than 40 other Congress members, for signing onto an amicus brief that advocates for the installation of the Ten Commandments in the nation’s secular public schools. On the issue, Roy professed that the United States is a “Judeo-Christian nation” and accused “radical progressives” of plotting to “upend Western civilization” by keeping religious doctrine out of public schools.
Last week, First Liberty Institute, a Christian conservative legal nonprofit, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the mandated display of the Ten Commandments in public schools, with 46 members of Congress signing on, including Roy, R-Texas, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The amicus brief was filed amid ongoing lawsuits challenging laws that mandate Ten Commandments displays in all public school classrooms in Texas and Louisiana, which are represented in part by FFRF Action Fund’s parent organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
In October, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced it would reconsider a prior ruling upholding a preliminary injunction deeming Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law “plainly unconstitutional.” All judges currently on the conservative circuit will rehear arguments in the new year. As for Texas, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in one lawsuit last month, requiring certain Texas school districts to remove all Ten Commandments displays and prohibiting any new displays of doctrine. Another Texan lawsuit will also be reconsidered by the full 5th Circuit in 2026, following a federal judge’s August ruling that blocked the state’s Ten Commandments law.
FFRF is also participating in a class action lawsuit that covers the remaining Texas school districts not yet part of active litigation, which was filed last week, the third lawsuit challenging the state’s Ten Commandments law.
In a press release, Roy said, “America was founded as a nation grounded in a distinctly Christian understanding, and the Ten Commandments are intertwined with America’s legal, moral, and historical heritage. Christianity and the rule of law have been under attack by radical progressives who dare to upend Western civilization and steer America’s youth away from the morals that made our country great.”
The representative continued. “Placing the Ten Commandments in every classroom in Texas affirms that we are a Judeo-Christian nation. Upholding our historical and moral heritage and proclaiming the Ten Commandments as a guiding path for a righteous way of life.”
Speaker Johnson, highlighted in Roy’s press release, said, “While some states have sought to erase American history and the motivations that have undergirded our Republic, others, like Louisiana and Texas, took bold action to ensure schoolchildren are taught the history and traditions of the United States.” Johnson went on to describe the biblical edicts as “essential building blocks for Western Civilization,” which are “deeply embedded” into American history.
Cruz delineated Ten Commandments displays as “critical to reaffirming our commitment” to so-called founding principles. “Public displays of the Ten Commandments reinforce the founding principles for current and future generations, and are crucial to shaping a shared civic culture,” the senator professed.
FFRF Action Fund asserts that religious dogma has no place in our public schools, which serve students of all religions and nonreligion and are paid for by taxpayers of all religious or nonreligious viewpoints. We must keep religious indoctrination out of our secular education system. Roy is a second-time “Theocrat of the Week” and must stop encroaching on the constitutional separation between state and church.
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.