A federal judge in San Antonio ordered a preliminary injunction to block some school districts in Texas from implementing a new state law that requires all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.<\/p>\n
Passed by state lawmakers during the 89th regular legislative session, Senate Bill 10 requires public elementary or secondary schools to display a 16-by-20 inch framed poster of the Ten Commandments in a \u201cconspicuous place\u201d in each classroom.<\/p>\n
The new law also requires school districts to accept donations of posters or money for posters from the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Set to take effect Sept. 1, local parents quickly filed suit against school districts they live in to block them from putting up the religious posters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parents and advocates against SB 10 say the law is unconstitutional because it violates the Establishment Clause, which outlaws the government from showing any preferential treatment to one religion. <\/p>\n
They also take issue with the version of the Ten Commandments outlined in the bill, a Christian Protestant version from the King James Bible that differs from versions of the text that belong to other denominations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main plaintiff is Rabbi Mara Nathan, a parent who lives in the Alamo Heights Independent School District and a religious leader at Temple Beth-El in San Antonio. She\u2019s joined by other parents who say they come from several different religions, and were represented by advocacy groups including Americans United, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The suit was filed against several San Antonio-area school districts, as well as districts in Houston and Austin. Defendants in the case of Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD are Alamo Heights ISD, North East ISD, Lackland ISD and Northside ISD.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other defendants include Austin, Lake Travis, Houston, Fort Bend, Cypress Fairbanks and Plano ISDs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State Assistant Attorney General Biff Farrell, who represented the defendants, said the Ten Commandments were \u201cprevalent\u201d to the country\u2019s history and have been since the founding,<\/p>\n