Federal court blocks Texas Ten Commandments display in classrooms

A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked a state law that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, ruling that the measure is likely unconstitutional and could amount to religious coercion. The injunction applies to 11 school districts and their affiliates and halts the Sept. 1 start date that Texas lawmakers had set. The decision is the latest in a string of legal challenges to similar laws in other states, and it keeps the question of church-state separation in public schools at the forefront of national debate.

The measure, Senate Bill 10, would have mandated a 16-by-20 inch poster or framed copy of a specific English version of the Ten Commandments in each classroom. The version approved by lawmakers drew on a King James Bible, prompting concerns from families representing Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious backgrounds. They argued that having a government-mowered religious display in classrooms would pressure students to conform to a state-preferred script and infringe on parental rights to guide their children’s religious education.

In issuing the temporary ruling, the court emphasized First...