A federal appeals court is hearing arguments Tuesday morning over a Texas law that would require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
The case is before the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and is being considered alongside a similar challenge to a Louisiana law.
Opponents of the Texas requirement argue the mandate violates the Constitution by promoting a single religion in public schools, which are meant to welcome all faiths and cultures. Others argue that commandments about killing and adultery are inappropriate in kindergarten and elementary school classrooms
Supporters say the United States is a Christian nation, and Texas' governor has threatened to sue any district that does not display the commandments. State attorneys have defended the law by saying the displays are meant to reflect historical influences on American law, not religious instruction.
The appeals court is not expected to issue an immediate ruling, and any decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which makes this a landmark case for the country.
The New York Times reported that "Even in legal limbo, the Ten Commandments mandate in Texas has had an impact. In Carthage, a rural town near the Louisiana border, Johnnie Cotton, the band director, abruptly resigned in October over the measure after 40 years in education. A Ten Commandments poster had appeared on his desk one Friday that month with the directive to hang it up.
“That was a line I was unwilling to cross,” Cotton told the Times.
In a twist, the Times added that In the suburbs of Fort Worth, some teachers have been complying in action, but not attitude by "collecting spiritually themed posters from faiths as far afield as the Satanic Temple to join the commandments on display."
Others say the foundations of literature and law are rooted in the Ten Commandments, and kids should understand them even in that context. “No student really receives a quality education by banning the religious aspects of our nation’s history and heritage,” said Kelly Shackelford, the chief executive of the Christian legal organization First Liberty Institute.