Texas cannot require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a judge said Wednesday in a temporary ruling against the state’s new requirement, making it the third such state law to be blocked by a court.

A group of Dallas-area families and faith leaders sought a preliminary injunction against the law, which goes into effect on Sept. 1. They say the requirement violates the First Amendment’s protections for the separation of church and state and the right to free religious exercise.

Texas is the largest state to attempt such a requirement, and U.S. District Judge Fred Biery’s ruling from San Antonio is the latest in a widening legal fight that’s expected to eventually go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • Hoimo@ani.social
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    7 hours ago

    I don’t get Americans’ obsession with putting religion into schools. Didn’t y’all flee Europe because of religious oppression? Isn’t religious freedom one of the pillars of USAmerican society? Surely some of the Christians must realize that if the state makes “Christianity” the state religion, sooner or later that becomes a specific variety of Christianity and it probably won’t be their specific variety. Or are there no actual Christians left and do they only care about the symbols of “Christianity” as stand-ins for the symbols of white supremacy? (Don’t tell me.)

    • hovercat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      5 hours ago

      Didn’t y’all flee Europe because of religious oppression?

      This is something we’re all taught as kids, and it’s presented as “Oh, they were just quietly practicing in their own way, and then the mean government stepped in and trampled them simply because it was different from the Church of England”.

      What we’re not taught is how the Puritans were a repressed bunch of freaks that everyone fucking hated, and were “persecuted” for being a menace to society. They literally hate life and enjoyment of it, and wanted a theocracy to enforce it. When they were in power in England, they literally banned the celebration of Christmas because people had too much fun celebrating it.

      It then shouldn’t be surprising the US is filled with prudes who think they’re the most persecuted minority on the planet and want a theocracy to enforce it, because it’s literally the foundation of the country.

  • jcs@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    1st amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

  • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    22 hours ago

    I am selling my house, giving up my well paying job, and leaving Texas in a week to be with my fiance who has already moved. I am terrified of the house not selling and of being unemployed. I originally graduated into a depressed job market with a soft degree and spent 2 years(!!!) job hunting before I got a job in retail customer service. Somehow over a decade, I managed to claw my way, tooth and fucking nail, into a career I’m proud of. The closer I get to being out of a job, the more scared I get but then I see stories like this and I am reminded why we decided that getting the fuck out of here was worth more than whatever financial security we’re giving up, (hopefully just in the short term.) This place is not fucking safe.

  • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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    22 hours ago

    Making it the third such state law to be blocked by a court.

    It should become a criminal offense to write laws this way. Of course some laws you write will be challenged and that’s ok. But if you have legislation you wrote blocked by a court three times you belong in prison.

  • Devolution@lemmy.world
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    24 hours ago

    I feel the court also should order all conservatives to follow then too if they are forced in all classrooms.

    1. You shall have no other gods before Me.

    “No more Trump or money worship.”

    1. You shall make no idols.

    “See above.”

    1. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

    “Every time you preach Jesus and then fuck a child, you are violating this.”

    1. Keep the Sabbath day holy.

    “Pay your workers way more so they do not have to work on Sunday.”

    1. Honor your father and your mother.

    “Stripping your parents of Medicare certainly isn’t doing this.”

    1. You shall not murder.

    “Guess conservatives need to stop asking for the deaths of everyone and anyone not them.”

    1. You shall not commit adultery.

    “Hahah OK Conservatives.”

    1. You shall not steal.

    “No stealing of benefits, elections, lands, people, money, etc.”

    1. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

    “Conservative talk radio and Fox News would go out of business.”

    1. You shall not covet.

    “No wonder why I’m some of the most racist states, porn searches for Ebony, Transsexuals, and Asians is damned high.”

    Yeah. Before you enforce them, follow them first.

  • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    Thank God (he he) I wasn’t born in this backwards state, which is part of an equally retrograde country.

  • shplane@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I feel like I read this story at least once a year, just swap out the name of a different red state each time. The party of small government will never stop trying to shove religion down our throats.

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        24 hours ago

        They want authoritarianism. They don’t care how they get there. It just so helps that much of their base is religious. It also helps that they can twist that religion to point at outgroups.

        If the Flying Spaghetti Monster offered a way for people with money and power to accumulate more money and power, they absolutely would abandon Christianity and become pastafarians.

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      And you will continue to hear it every year until they win. It’s the same thing they did with abortion. Just keep hammering the issue over and over until the resistance is exhausted and they find a weak point in the defense and force their way through.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        21 hours ago

        Just keep hammering the issue over and over until the resistance is exhausted and they find a weak point in the defense and force their way through.

        This is also known as “Republican courtship ritual”.

    • TachyonTele@piefed.social
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      1 day ago

      Every day this week has been a story about it being accepted into the texas classroom or it’s not. Tomorrow it’ll be a story about texas approving it agian.

  • Zachariah@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    It would backfire anyway. Gonna be a lot of stoned politicians if kids start enforcing rules from the bible.