Dan Patrick laments Texas not enacting Ten Commandments law first

AUSTIN (KXAN) — This week Louisiana became the first state in the country to require schools to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms, which struck a nerve with one prominent Republican in Texas.

On his personal X account, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick posted a screenshot Thursday of a headline noting this milestone for Texas’ neighbor, and he expressed his disappointment in a similar proposal failing to become law here in the state.

“Texas WOULD have been and SHOULD have been the first state in the nation to put the 10 Commandments back in our schools,” Patrick wrote on X.

The Texas Senate approved Senate Bill 1515 along a party-line vote on April 20 last year during the regular legislative session. The legislation, which was introduced by Texas Sen. Phil King of Weatherford, would have made public K-12 schools put up “a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” in a “conspicuous place in each classroom.” The bill required the display to be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall, and the text would have to be “in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.”

Members of the public education committee in the Texas House of Representatives advanced the legislation at a May 16, 2023, hearing. However, the full House never took up SB 1515 last year, so the proposal did not advance any further.

In his X posts Thursday, Patrick used that to once again excoriate Speaker Dade Phelan, who won a primary runoff last month against a challenger backed by the lieutenant governor and former President Donald Trump.

“Every Texas Republican House member would have voted for it. But, SPEAKER Dade Phelan killed the bill by letting it languish in committee for a month assuring it would never have time for a vote on the floor,” Patrick wrote. “This was inexcusable and unacceptable. Putting the Ten Commandments back into our schools was obviously not a priority for Dade Phelan.”

Patrick also said this legislation is needed to “remind students all across Texas of the importance of a fundamental foundation of American and Texas law: the Ten Commandments.” He ended his X post with this promise: “I will pass the 10 Commandments Bill again out of the Senate next session.”

State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, said Friday reviving this legislation next session will meet opposition once again from him, arguing it goes against his Christian faith.

“In our tradition, Jesus taught us that the most important thing is loving thy neighbor — more important than the Ten Commandments, more important than the law, more important than religion itself,” Talarico said. “And so I’m concerned, as a Christian, that bills like this that are exclusionary, that are arrogant, that are idolatrous are not just a threat to the Constitution, but they’re also a threat to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Texas does have a red granite monument listing the Ten Commandments displayed on the Capitol grounds in Austin. According to the Texas State Preservation Board, this was erected in 1961 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles of Texas.

Louisiana’s law, which Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed earlier this week, differs slightly from the proposal debated last year in Texas. For one the size of the displays in Louisiana must be 11 inches by 14 inches. It also applies to more than just K-12 classrooms in public schools. State-funded universities and colleges in the Pelican State must also display a poster-sized copy of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” next year.

Civil liberties groups are already planning to file lawsuits to block the law from taking effect in Louisiana, arguing it’s unconstitutional. However, Gov. Landry along with the state’s Republican attorney general said they would look forward to defending the law in court.

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