The ruling rejected arguments that the law established a religion, arguing that it \u201crequires no religious exercise or observance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents are neither catechized on the Commandments nor taught to adopt them,\u201d it said. \u201cNor are teachers commanded to proselytize students who ask about the displays or contradict students who disagree with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously, in 2024, a federal judge struck down<\/a> a similar Louisiana law as unconstitutional. In 2025, the Texas law was partially blocked<\/a> from enforcement.<\/p>\n Different versions of Ten Commandments<\/p>\n Supporters of such laws often argue that the Ten Commandments have historical and cultural significance, while opponents argue they are an unconstitutional display of faith in a public setting, with some noting even different Christian groups use different translations of the Ten Commandments, in effect favoring certain Christian churches over others.\u00a0<\/p>\n Catholics and Lutherans use<\/a> a numbering of the Ten Commandments established by St. Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430), who is among the saints who hold the title of doctor of the church<\/a>. Conversely, the Orthodox and most Protestant denominations follow a numbering of the commandments set out by the early Christian scholar Origen of Alexandria (A.D. 185-254).<\/p>\n The law, SB 10<\/a>, requires the display be at least 16-20 inches and located in \u201ca conspicuous place in each classroom of the school.\u201d The law requires the version of the Ten Commandments typically used by Protestants.\u00a0<\/p>\n The majority opinion acknowledged \u201cdetailed scriptural arguments\u201d for why S.B. 10\u2019s version of the Commandments \u201caligns better with Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish traditions,\u201d and arguments for why the law\u2019s \u201crendition of scripture \u2026 conflicts with Jewish and Catholic articulations of the Decalogue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot being a court of ministers, bishops, or rabbis, we have no business opining on these matters and no competence to do so,\u201d it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dissent claims \u2018subtle coercive pressure\u2019 involved<\/p>\n However, the dissenting opinion in the case argued that \u201cThe Supreme Court long ago held that a statute nearly identical to S.B. 10 violates the Establishment Clause,\u201d referring to its rejection of a similar Kentucky law in its 1980 ruling in Stone v. Graham.<\/p>\n The dissent also argued that the law risked creating the \u201csubtle coercive pressure\u201d to participate in religious practice in public schools that the high court has long rejected, arguing \u201cAs \u2018commandments,’\u201d that religious scripture risked sending a \u201ccoercive\u201d message. In a footnote providing an example, it cited a hypothetical Catholic student viewing the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments as a \u201ctheological error\u201d that they are being forced either to acquiesce to, or speak up about and so be marked as different.<\/p>\n A group of plaintiffs, comprised of both religious and nonreligious families, represented by organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, had sued over the Texas law, arguing it violated the First Amendment.<\/p>\n In an April 21 statement, those organizations said they are \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d in the ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Court\u2019s ruling goes against fundamental First Amendment principles and binding U.S. Supreme Court authority,\u201d they argued. \u201cThe First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights. We anticipate asking the Supreme Court to reverse this decision and uphold the religious-freedom rights of children and parents.\u201d<\/p>\n Ten Commandments ruling draws praise<\/p>\n But Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO, and chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, argued in a statement that, \u201cThe Ten Commandments have been a part of our nation\u2019s history and tradition; banning them from schools because they are religious is not justified by the Constitution and would undermine a comprehensive education for America\u2019s students.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe applaud the Fifth Circuit for upholding the Constitution,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, wrote in a post on X<\/a> the ruling \u201ca great day for those who believe in the Word of God.\u201d The bill was among his legislative priorities, he added in his post.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also celebrated<\/a> the ruling on social media, arguing, \u201cOur law clearly was always constitutional, and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us.\u201d<\/p>\n Legal scholars previously<\/a> told OSV News the case is likely to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kate Scanlon<\/a> is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"9 (OSV News) \u2014\u00a0A federal appeals court on April 21 narrowly upheld a Texas law requiring public school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-261607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20251106T1630-LOUISIANA-TEN-COMMANDMENTS-APPEAL-1807514-1024x528.jpg\")
Stone tablets depicting the Ten Commandments, the version typically used by Protestant Christians, are shown in a file photo outside the Supreme Court in Washington. (OSV News photo\/Jason Reed, Reuters)<\/p>\n