‘Perfectly in line with Constitution:’ Right defends Bible in Texas public schools after lawsuit

Texas is being sued over a state law requiring all public schools to display the biblical Ten Commandments, igniting discussion over the role of religion in K-12 public schools.

The lawsuit was filed July 30 by three Texas mothers – Audrey Rosa Nath, Emily Roth and Sanjam Kaur Sohal – each of whom have children in Houston-area school districts.

Roth v. Texas argues the law, state Senate bill SB10, violates the 1999 Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibits government agencies from “substantially burden[ing] a person's free exercise of religion."

The bill, passed in June 2025 with the support of Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, says that all public school classrooms must display a graphic of the commandments.

The Ten Commandments are the primary set of laws given by God in Judeo-Christian doctrine and include statutes such as “Thou shalt not covet” and “Thou shalt not lie.”

According to the legislation, posters must be purchased with private donations and meet specific size and legibility requirements, but teachers and students are not mandated to interact with it beyond its display.

The mothers, who claim affiliation with beliefs outside Christianity, say SB10 requires their children to be exposed to “a message that conflicts with their faith[s],” according to lead counsel Megan Hassan.

But Texas Values Policy Director Jonathan Covey told Just the News that “exposure to an idea is not the same thing as being compelled to believe it.” 

“SB 10 respects the role of parents while allowing students to see a passive display of the history and traditions that helped shape our country," he argues. 

The plaintiffs also cite the GOP-endorsed Texas’ Parental Rights Amendment, or Proposition 15, which guarantees parents the right “to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing.”

"My kids are young and they don't have the concept of murder … and adultery and servitude," Roth, who is not religious, said in an interview with CBS News, accusing the bill of being the work of “Christian nationalists.”

Nath, who aligns with multiple faiths including Jainism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Quakerism, said: "This is presenting the beliefs of one religion as rules on the wall. ... And I think that implies that any kids that believe something different aren't following the right thing at school."

Tina Descovich, co-founder and CEO of Moms for Liberty, a parent’s rights advocacy organization, pushed back on the narrative.

“Parental rights and religious freedom mean parents get to raise their children in their own faith and shape their moral formation without government interference, and a historical document on a classroom wall does none of that," she said.

“What genuinely alarms parents is that some of the same people rushing to court over this stayed silent while schools taught children ideology behind their backs and kept it from families."

The lawsuit comes amid Texas’ crackdown on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies in public schools – which reports an estimate over 23,000 public K-12 schools across America have implemented, in addition to 1,200 schools with policies that conceal students’ ‘gender identity’ from parents.

Supporters of the bill also say that Christian principles are inextricable from the U.S. founding documents and form not only an integral part of America’s founding, but that of Western civilization as a whole.

“The Ten Commandments are one of the foundations of the American legal system,” Roger Byron, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, told Just the News.

According to the American Heritage Education Foundation, major philosophical influences of the U.S. Constitution – such as the colonial and state constitutions, the Great Awakening, modern Enlightenment thinkers and the Declaration of Independence – were “shaped by a God-oriented worldview based on and/or consistent with the Bible.”

A study by political scientist Donald S. Lutz found that the Bible was referenced more frequently than any other author or school of thought, accounting for one-third of the citations in American founding-era political literature.

The book of Deuteronomy alone was the most cited work – more than thinkers such as Montesquieu, Locke, and Blackstone. 

"Like the Code of Hammurabi and the Magna Carta, the Ten Commandments are woven into the fabric of the legal tradition this country inherited, and there is nothing unconstitutional about a state acknowledging that history in its classrooms,” Descovich also told JTN.

Bryon also said: “A proper education should provide a familiarity with this code of laws that has had such a profound impact on Western Civilization. ... A good way to help achieve that familiarity is to display the Ten Commandments on the walls of the public schools.”  

Texas was the second state to require the commandments in public school classrooms, after Louisiana. Attempts to pass and maintain similar legislation in at least 13 other states have faced fierce opposition. 

In April, a similar case against Texas’ SB10 was presented to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals by 15 Texas families in Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, citing a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, but the court upheld the legislation in a 9-8 vote.

The Harris County District Court, in which Roth v. Texas was filed, rejected the plaintiffs' Aug. 7 request for a temporary hold on SB10, which would have removed the displays until the court’s final ruling. 

The next hearing is set for August 17.