Texas Freedom Network (TFN) Statement on Ten Commandments Appellate Ruling, April 22, 2026

Friends:

Source: San.com

The 9–8 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowing Texas to mandate the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms should set off alarm bells across the country (Nigrelli, 2026; TFN Press Release, 2026). 

This is not about heritage. It is not about morality. It is about power. As Texas Freedom Network President Felicia Martin makes clear, religious freedom means the state does not get to decide which beliefs are elevated and displayed for all children. Yet that is precisely what this ruling permits—by a single vote. One vote to move the state from protector of religious liberty to arbiter of religious truth. That is not neutrality. That is state-sanctioned imposition.

And let’s be clear: this is not an isolated decision. It is part of a coordinated reordering of public education in Texas—one that is narrowing what can be taught, who gets to decide, and now, what must be believed. From dismantling DEI to restructuring university governance to inserting religious doctrine into K–12 classrooms, the pattern is unmistakable. 

Public schools are being transformed from spaces of inquiry and pluralism into instruments of ideological control. The Ten Commandments on the wall are not the beginning of this story—they are the latest move in a much larger project. The question now is whether we recognize it for what it is, and whether we are willing to confront it before the line between education and indoctrination disappears altogether.

And this is all the more reason to attend our meeting this evening with the Democrat members of the Texas State Board of Education per my earlier post this morning.

-Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Reference

Nigrelli, C. (2026, April 22). Court rules Texas can require Ten Commandments in classrooms. San Antonio Express-News. https://san.com/cc/court-rules-texas-can-require-ten-commandments-in-classrooms/

TFN Statement on Ten Commandments Appellate Ruling

Spokespeople available in Spanish and English for additional comment or interview at request



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 22, 2026

CONTACT: Andrew Freeman, andrew@tfn.org, 512-746-8404

AUSTIN, Texas – The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-8 Tuesday that Texas can require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

Several families and faith leaders sued school districts to block the law from taking effect after Senate Bill 10 was passed by the Texas Legislature last summer.

Texas Freedom Network President and Executive Director Felicia Martin (she/her) issued the following response:

“Religious freedom means the government does not get to decide which faith belongs on a classroom wall. This ruling gets that wrong, and it does so by just one vote. One vote should not be enough to take that freedom away from Texas families. At Texas Freedom Network, we will continue our support of the diverse families and faith leaders challenging this decision and any further legal action to bring it before the Supreme Court.”

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The Texas Freedom Network (tfn.org) is a grassroots organization of religious and community leaders and young Texans building an informed and effective movement for equality and social justice.

Friends:

Attorney General Paxton’s claim distorts both history and constitutional principle. While the Ten Commandments in the Bible are part of the religious heritage of many, America’s legal and civic foundation rests not on a single faith tradition but on Enlightenment ideas, English common law, and a deliberate commitment to religious liberty.

Many of the framers themselves descended from those who fled religious persecution in Europe. From this history, they understood that a republic could only survive if it safeguarded freedom of conscience against state-imposed faith—an understanding that was ultimately enshrined in the First Amendment’s guarantee that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

In drafting the Constitution, the framers explicitly rejected the establishment of any religion as the basis for government, ensuring that all faiths—and those with none—could belong equally. To insist, as Paxton does, that the Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of American law is to erase the pluralism that has defined this country from the start and to undermine the very protections of the First Amendment. It is, in effect, a rewriting of history that asks the public to ignore the evidence before their very eyes.

This is why the third lawsuit filed against the Ten Commandments classroom display law is so significant. As Austin American-Statesman education reporter Keri Heath documents, fifteen families representing a variety of faith backgrounds—including Christian, Jewish, Lutheran, and nonreligious—have joined together to challenge Senate Bill 10 in federal court. Their action underscores that Paxton’s directive is not only constitutionally dubious but also deeply out of step with the diverse religious and civic traditions that make up Texas and the nation.

-Angela Valenzuela

Third lawsuit filed against display of Ten Commandments in schools

By Keri Heath, Staff Writer

A third lawsuit has been filed against school districts over a new state law requiring the placement of the Ten Commandments in school classrooms. / Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman

A group of families on Monday filed a third lawsuit against a batch of school districts over a law requiring the placement of the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms. The 14 school districts, which include Georgetown and Comal, are among several dozen that have been sued over the law since Gov. Greg Abbott signed it in June.

The lawsuit also comes about a month after Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a memo to superintendents reinforcing that districts should display posters depicting the 10 Commandments, despite a federal judge temporarily blocking the law for a handful of districts.

The lawsuit also includes the Conroe, Flour Bluff, Fort Worth, Arlington, McKinney, Frisco, Northwest, Azle, Rockwall, Lovejoy, Mansfield and McAllen school districts. All of the districts listed in the lawsuit either received or already posted donated posters depicting the Ten Commandments, according to the lawsuit. 

The new lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Western District Court of Texas by 15 families of students in the named districts. The families are of a variety of faith backgrounds, including Christian, Jewish, Lutheran and nonreligious, according to the lawsuit.

“I address questions about God and faith with great care, and I emphatically reject the notion that the state would do this for me,” said Rev. Kristin Klade, a Lutheran pastor who lives in Fort Worth.

Authored by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, Senate Bill 10 requires that school districts post any donated copies of a specific version of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

The lawsuit filed Monday is the third sparked by SB 10. In June, parents brought a lawsuit against three districts and the Texas Education Agency. In July, additional families brought a lawsuit against 11 other districts. 

A federal judge temporarily blocked the law for the 11 districts last month, prompting Paxton to issue instructions directing every other district in the state to abide by SB 10.

“From the beginning, the Ten Commandments have been irrevocably intertwined with America’s legal, moral, and historical heritage,” Paxton said in a statement when he issued the directive.

That July lawsuit included the Lake Travis and Dripping Springs districts. The Austin school district was eventually dismissed from the case as long as it adhered to any injunction the court placed.

Sep 22, 2025

Keri Heath

K-12 EDUCATION REPORTER