Texas should have been first state to put 10 Commandments back in schools, says Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

HOUSTON – Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is blasting his political opponents for letting Louisiana become the first state to require public schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments.

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In a statement posted on X, Patrick wrote that Texas would have and should have been the first state to pass such a law if Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan hadn’t “killed” Senate Bill 1515 during the last legislative session.

“Every Texas Republican House member would have voted for it,” wrote Patrick. “This was inexcusable and unacceptable. Putting the Ten Commandments back into our schools was obviously not a priority for Dade Phelan.”

Under the new law in Louisiana, which was signed this week, all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities will be required to display a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” next year.

The move stirs the long-running debate over the role of religion in government institutions. Civil liberties groups planned lawsuits to block the law signed by Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, saying it would unconstitutionally breach protections against government-imposed religion. “We’re going to be seeing Gov. Landry in court,” said Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other statehouses — including Oklahoma and Utah.

Members of the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations expressed concerns about the law.

“Is it to highlight universal principles that everyone should embrace? Or is the intent to send a message to Muslim students or others that, ‘Your religion — not welcome here, only one understanding of one religion is welcome here?’” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of CAIR.

Mitchell said Muslims respect the Ten Commandments, which are largely reinforced by similar passages throughout the Quran and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. But he said the context is troubling for reasons including the use of a Ten Commandments translation associated with evangelicals and other Protestants.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.