AUSTIN, Texas (CN) - Texans had their last chance to comment on a bill requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments at a legislative hearing early Wednesday morning. 

Just after 3:30 a.m., the Texas House Public Education Committee took up Senate Bill 10, a controversial proposal requiring a poster of the Ten Commandments in all the state's public elementary and secondary school classrooms. The bill sailed through the Senate as a priority piece of legislation for Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.  

After enduring a grueling 10 hours of voting on bills Tuesday in the House chamber and waiting several more hours for the committee to get through 19 other bills it was set to consider, Representative Candy Noble, a Republican from Lucas, made her case for the legislation she's sponsoring in the House.

In Noble's words, Texas "classrooms are crying out for moral guidance," which is best provided by displaying the religious text. She said she also wants to reintroduce students to a vital document that shaped the country.   

"The displaying of the Ten Commandments in our Texas classrooms will bring back this historic tradition of recognizing America's foundational heritage of both our educational and judicial systems and remind students of the importance of the cornerstone of American and Texas laws," Noble said. 

The bill specifies the poster must be 16-by-20 inches and printed on a durable material or framed. It also dictates the exact language, which is identical to that of a granite monument found on the Texas Capitol grounds. Public schools would have to accept donated posters.  

Critics argue the bill sends a message that the state favors one religious tradition. At a news conference hosted by Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning watchdog group, faith leaders said SB 10 is a threat to religious freedom. 

Upneet Kaur, senior education manager at The Sikh Coalition, a civil liberties group, said that while Christian values played a role in the nation's founding, other faith traditions have also been of influence. 

"Solely displaying the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms is once again an attempt to privilege American Christian theology over the many other faiths, cultural, and ethnic traditions represented in U.S. history and current affairs," Kaur said. 

Christians have also voiced their discomfort with the bill. The Reverend Hayden Paul, a priest with the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, told Courthouse News that SB 10 is coercive and may do more harm than good for congregations like his.

"What is upsetting for me is that my congregation has opted into that care, they have chosen our particular faith tradition and to receive Christian texts," Paul said. "The problem is that when you put religious documents into school classrooms, the teachers don't have the training or the knowledge to fully expound upon what those texts are."

Republicans in the Capitol have been pursuing bills allowing for greater Christian influence in public education since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. In that case, the justices upended decades of legal precedent about how courts determine whether a law violates the First Amendment's establishment clause, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over others.

Matt Krause, of counsel at First Liberty Institute, a conservative religious liberties legal aid group, testified to the education committee that SB 10 is legal under the "history and tradition test" established by Kennedy. Under this test, laws concerning religion that comport with the nation's traditions and history may survive constitutional scrutiny.

"There's no other document that's going to pass that history and tradition test like the Ten Commandments were," Krause said.

Despite Republicans' confidence in the bill's constitutionality, Democrats on the committee were convinced that legal challenges will arise. However, another case may beat them to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last year, a federal judge struck down a similar law requiring the Ten Commandments in Louisiana classrooms, finding the measure violated the First Amendment. That ruling is under review by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and will likely be appealed.

But before it worries about defending the measure, Texas must get its bill across the legislative finish line. Senate Bill 10 was left pending at the end of Wednesday's meeting and is expected to be advanced to the full House in the coming days.  

Source: Courthouse News Service