Editorial written by the New York Daily News Editorial Board
The Texas state Senate, apparently having solved all the problems in the Lone Star State, voted the other day to require every public elementary and secondary school in Texas to “display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments that meets the requirements of Subsection (b).”
Don’t get us wrong, we love the Ten Commandments, both the biblical orders to the Hebrews delivered by Moses down from Sinai (twice) and the great Charlton Heston flick.
But the divinely-inspired rules are definitely part of religion, an essential component of Judaism and Christianity; while public schools are definitely not a part of that faith sphere.
And the very first words of the First Amendment say: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” and what applies to Congress also applies to the Texas state Senate. Establishing a religion, any religion, is not permitted in public schools. Even in Texas.
Subsection (b) decrees that “A poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments must: include the text of the Ten Commandments as provided by Subsection (c) in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom in which the poster or framed copy is displayed; and be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall.”
Perhaps that was the size that Moses had?
Still, let’s look carefully at what senators meant in Subsection (c), where the legislation prints the official “approved” version of the Ten Commandments starting with “I AM the LORD thy God,” (ignoring the fact that the original is in Hebrew) and follows through to not coveting.
But there are 11 commandments listed, since the Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant versions are slightly different. Rather than pick one over another, the senators fudged, so it’s unclear which is commandment two or three and which are combined.
We are not poking fun at faith communities, which we deeply respect. We are laughing out loud at the politicians trying to unconstitutionally masquerade as faith leaders.
