The complaint alleges that a law requiring the religious text violates ‘fundamental religious-freedom principles’ in the US.A group of faith leaders in the United States have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state of Texas from requiring the Ten Commandments, as detailed in the Old Testament of the Bible, to be displayed in public classrooms.
Their legal challenge on Tuesday comes just days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the legislation, which would make Texas the largest state in the country to impose such a requirement.
In the lawsuit, the Christian and Muslim faith leaders argue that the law would subject nearly six million students across Texas’s 9,100 public schools to “religious mandates, every single school day”.
“This is wholly inconsistent with the fundamental religious-freedom principles … upon which our nation was founded,” said the lawsuit.
It further noted that children who attend public schools in Texas “follow various faiths and religions, or do not practice any religion at all”.
The US Constitution protects the right to practice — or not practice — a religion without interference from the government.
Meanwhile, the concept of the “separation of church and state” has long been seen as a bedrock principle in US law. While it is not directly referred to in the US Constitution, its roots have been traced back to the US colonial period.
Thomas Jefferson, the country’s third president, used the phrase to discuss the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the governme …