statement<\/a> released by the ACLU.<\/p>\n\u201cChildren\u2019s religious beliefs should be instilled by parents and faith communities, not politicians and public schools,\u201d Nathan said.<\/p>\n
Other plaintiffs included Christian families who feared the schoolhouse displays of the Ten Commandments would lead to the teaching of religious interpretations and concepts they might object to.<\/p>\n
The Texas state government, however, has argued that the Ten Commandments symbolise an important part of US culture and therefore should be a mandatory presence in schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ten Commandments are a cornerstone of our moral and legal heritage, and their presence in classrooms serves as a reminder of the values that guide responsible citizenship,\u201d Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. He pledged to appeal Wednesday\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n
But in his 55-page decision, Judge Biery, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1994, drew on a range of cultural references \u2013 from Christian scripture to the 1970s pop duo Sonny and Cher and the actress Greta Garbo \u2013 to sketch a history of the dangers of imposing religion on the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe displays are likely to pressure the child-Plaintiffs into religious observance, meditation on, veneration, and adoption of the State\u2019s favored religious scripture,\u201d Biery wrote at one point.<\/p>\n
He also said such displays risk \u201csuppressing expression of [the children\u2019s] own religious or nonreligious backgrounds and beliefs while at school\u201d.<\/p>\n
Biery even offered a winking, personal anecdote to illustrate the power that governments can hold over the adoption of religion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed, forty years ago a Methodist preacher told a then much younger judge, \u2018Fred, if you had been born in Tibet, you would be a Buddhist,’\u201d Biery wrote.<\/p>\n
A separate federal case involving Dallas area schools is also challenging the Ten Commandment requirement. It names the Texas Education Agency as a defendant.<\/p>\n
Such cases are likely to eventually reach the Supreme Court, which currently has a six-to-three conservative supermajority and has shown sympathy for cases of religious displays.<\/p>\n
In the 2022 case Kennedy v Bremerton School District, for instance, the Supreme Court sided with a high school football coach who argued he had the right to hold post-game prayers, despite fears that such practices could violate the First Amendment. The coach had been fired for his actions.<\/p>\n
Judge Biery concluded Wednesday\u2019s decision with a nod to how controversial such cases can be. But he appealed for common understanding with a prayer-like flourish.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those who disagree with the Court\u2019s decision and who would do so with threats, vulgarities and violence, Grace and Peace unto you,\u201d Biery wrote. \u201cMay humankind of all faiths, beliefs and non-beliefs be reconciled one to another. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A United States federal judge has granted a temporary block against a Texas law that would require the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,55122,17984,526,2420,3,2229,21,19,22,20,25,1209,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-97961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-child-rights","10":"tag-civil-rights","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-government","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-religion","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-us-canada","21":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}