In accordance with Texas Senate Bill 10, every classroom in Prosper ISD is now required to display the Ten Commandments after the Citizens Defending Freedom donated enough posters to do so. The bill, first sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill King during the 89th legislature, was signed into law June 21 of this year by Gov. Greg Abbott.
In a post made by the group Sept. 3, members confirmed that their Texas team delivered more posters to the school district while thanking Colby Wise, CEO of Citizens Defending Freedom.
“I am not happy about the new law and having to display the Ten Commandments in my room for a couple of reasons,” AV production teacher Michael Logan said. “As a Christian, I do believe we should live by these principles, but I do not believe they should be put in the classroom where there are a variety of belief systems. I believe the classroom is a place of learning and exploration, and not religious teachings.”
The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Old Testament, which is from the original Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. It first shows in Exodus 20:2-17 and then repeats a second time in Deuteronomy 5:6-21.
“People don’t often mention that the Ten Commandments are actually Jewish law,” Logan said. “In Matthew 5, Jesus changed a lot of these, and so it’s not even Christian principles. It’s Jewish.”
While some teachers hold a negative view of Senate Bill 10, other teachers hold a more positive light toward it.
“I think that it’s great,” floral design teacher Heather Smith said. “I am super excited about having it up in the classroom. It’s a really important daily reminder of how we should be living, and I’m very proud to put it up today.”
Some of the requirements of the bill include how the poster must be displayed and its legibility. Its text has to be in a size and typeface that most people can see, and it has to be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall.
“The hard thing is with this library (is that) it has to be legible from everywhere with somebody for average vision,” library aide Sydney O’Brien said. “But this is a huge room.”
The law, which was effective starting from Sept. 1, outlines that public schools do not have to use district funds to purchase the posters, but must “accept any offer of a privately donated poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments,” according to the introduced version of the bill.
“I’m indifferent,” U.S. history, government teacher Lisa DeMarco said. “I pretty much have always been separation of church and state. The state is asking us to do it, so I’m going to put it up. I’m a Christian. I believe in the Ten Commandments. I’m just not sure about having it here, but they want us to do it, so I’m going to do it.”
This article was edited by Kate Duncan, Victoria Byers and other staff members.
