Texas can require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, US appeals court rules
Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a victory for conservatives who have long sought to incorporate more religion into schools.
The ruling sets up a potential clash at the U.S. Supreme Court over the issue in the future. Arkansas and Louisiana have passed similar laws, which have also been challenged in courts.
And Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a similar law earlier this moth.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/21/us/texas-ten-commandments-schoolsOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
95 replies
You are safe here, you can let it all out. We don't mind.
It's the 5th, they're all insane
🤌
Notably, the law does NOT say that you cannot display the Five Yamas, the Four Noble Truths, the Ten Precepts of Taoism, Five Pillars of Islam, etc., alongside them. That's what I'd be doing, were I a teacher.
Don't forget the Seven Tenets of Satanism
And the Pentabarf!
These are the ones I'd want to post. But, honestly, I'm scared. In any other state, or in the private sector, I'm woefully unqualified, and can't afford to lose my job. Most likely, I'd eventually be vindicated in the courts, but I'd be fired and destitute well before that.
Might be going a bit too far. The point is educate kids that Christianity is not the only religion. Putting that up might delegitimize the argument.
Did you read them? They seem less problematic than the ten commandments to me.
No, because what they say is not relevant.
If they would be written in a poster on a wall it would matter. At least to anyone who actually sees them.
It wouldn't matter to the people that matter. The people creating this legislation in the first place.
You are too concerned with being right and not concerned enough about protecting children from indoctrination.
They can't denigrate text from Taoism and claim it's not suppression of religious freedom, but they can totally point at text from a meme religion as proof that your argument is not serious.
The Satanic Temple is a non-religious civil rights organization, and this has been their primary tactic for years because it works. When you point out to John Q. Public that allowing the 10 Commandments into classrooms will also open the doors to the 7 Tenets of Satanism, it either causes a reversal of course or bulldozes a path for wider religious acceptance.
Maybe try reading them first.
I think you may have missed the part where I said what they say is not relevant. It was 90% of the message you just replied to.
It's almost like you are afraid, it's weird.
I don't consider myself a Satanist, but their seven tenets are nearly impossible to argue against.
Here let me do you a favor and just paste them here for you:
I
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
V
Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
Why?
Why? Really? It's a fake religion. Not like most fake religions but like even they don't even believe in it.
I keep waiting for the punchline here
...from whom?
There was a malicious compliance post where the 10 commandments were posted but it was in Arabic.
🤌🤌🤌🤌
The Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts.
Can you display a text saying "Christianity is false"?
Or a student, or a guest speaker...
And make the 10 commandments really really small. Perhaps hand written by a student with bad handwriting. In Spanish. With yellow ink on beige paper.
I'd go with like Klingon or something. I'm sure there are plenty of Spanish speakers in Texas. Probably a lot fewer who can read Klingon.
That's what I would be doing, if I were a student.
The judges justification was that displaying the 100% religious material does not force students to read or affirm the religious content. So, I'm looking forward to the Satanic Temple's suit to allow them to display their own tenets now that school walls are an open forum for religious materials that are legally not pushing their religiousity on students. They're a hell of a lot better a set of tenets anyway.
The tenets: https://thesatanictemple.com/blogs/the-satanic-temple-tenets/there-are-seven-fundamental-tenets?srsltid=AfmBOorp3jTMgXS23ZsM-AJANSPyJFplv4WLlu4DgfJuuh4RNBOPVpoB
Also, these are the people who think having openly gay people on tv is indoctrinating kids
It technically is forcing them to read it. The way the human brain works, if you know how to read and you see writing, you typically physically can't stop yourself from reading it
I like these better than the ten commandments. I especially like number 6
Someone light the beacon for The Satanic Temple.
The law specifies that this is ONLY for the Ten Commandments. Blatant disregard for separation aside, there's not much other faiths can do to balance the scales unless their document also happens to be called the Ten Commandments
Seems like they should make a document called Ten Commandments then lol
I get what youre saying but we both know they don't care about being hypocrites
That does not matter. It's the courts to decide.
And the courts are hypocrites, see this ruling about blatant disregard for the 1st amendement
How in the fuck can any court find this shit constitutional without being biased as fuck and doing some goddamned fucking olympic level mental gymnastics?
This is what happens in a captured system, the bad guys get to enforce their beliefs absolutely. Objectivity goes out the window.
These justices should be removed immediately for demonstrating their inability to follow a law so basic a 3 year old would understand.
There’s always one court in Texas that has their head up their own asses.
Doesn't matter, they have the power
Maybe this will make children question the morality of right wing politicians more.
Why has Trump broken all 10 commandments, for instance.
trump treated it like a to-do list until he got all ten.
A daily morning pledge to a flag definitely turned me against the State as a propaganda bullshit machine.
...But I'm afraid most people just got brainwashed and thought I was weird for abstaining.
Yeah, it truly is weird. I genuinely forgot about this until I was at my son’s school one day that early.
Please tell him how weird it is, so he can put it in context
That's the way I want to see it, 10 commandments with examples of how federal and local politicians have violated them.
It's been a busy week for the 5th Circuit, also affirming the Earth is flat, guns are people, and New Coke was actually quite tasty.
If guns are people, and we're allowed to own guns...
Slavery is legal again folks!
Slavery was never made illegal in the US
Aha but now it's legal for anyone to do it.
The 13th amendment disagrees
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Bolded it for you. If convicted of a crime you too can be a slave.
Not really the same context
Yeah, nah, laws banning slavery shouldn't have an asterisk and the US is pretty fucked up for that
ALSO...As of 2022, several states, including Alabama, Tennessee, and Oregon, passed measures to update their state constitutions to remove language allowing slavery as a punishment for a crime, while Louisiana did not.
Bur ya know who cares about progress
read closer.
look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar
So long as there are alternatives.
For instance, the Satanic Temple's 7 tenents are:
I One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
III One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
IV The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
V Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
VI People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
yes, the judges ruling this way certainly aren't making carveouts for one religion in particular.
Is there a lot of child abuse in Texas?
Religion is popular there, so yes.
If they don't properly honor their mothers and fathers.
Christians are tagging up our schools with grafitti
That's offensive. Graffiti is beautiful
This is a ruling from the 5th Circuit Court. From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Fifth_Circuit#2020s
This is the time for every teacher to just casually mention to NOT google George Carlin's take on "the ten commandments"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTb6YGciI2g
I honestly think it's delightful.
Just wait until those commandments are upon the walls of the US History classes and when the teachers get invariably, to the Civil War and teach - as Texas does - that the war was over states rights.. and they read the Article of Secession that Texas wrote, the students can call that bullshit out, using the 8th commandment against "bearing false witness". (no lying)
The issue is that the real Article of Secession that Texas wrote - not the whitewashed version they teach in their schools (that, BTW. mentions States rights ZERO times) - is hella nastier about black people, than they're comfortable to admit. (page 5, paragraph that starts: "We hold, as undeiniable truths..")
I think once that one hits the classrooma, a few of the more sharp kids are going to have a field day with it.
Why should kids follow the ten commandments when very few of our leaders do?
Hey, pedophilia not a commandment!
Time for the kids to put their art skills to work and mark them up!
I guess we're going to have to invade and liberate Texas...again.
I’d print it, but make it very tiny font and a small little square and place it on a cork board. It would suck if it got covered up by an anchor chart, but at least it’s displayed!
I haven't read the ruling, but heard that they're allowing it to go forward because there's no penalty for refusing. Not sure about that. Need to read up on it. I have a lot of coworkers who will not be participating.
Surely this will be appealed again.
Surely, that means if the politicians fighting for this break one of the commandments they will immediately resign, right?
Put a picture of the President beside:
You shalt not kill
You shalt not commit adultery
You shalt not steal
You shalt not covet your neighbors child
You shalt not shart.
America, you wanted a Christian Nation. Wait until it happens. You'll be paying premium streaming prices for entertainment, and getting rewritten 1950s tripe.
I'd love a Christian nation. We'd have no more homeless or starving people along with universal health care.
See you in the Supreme Court..
I'm okay with the ten commandments being displayed.......provided the rules of other religions are displayed right next to them