cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/31045336
By Hannah Feuer May 30, 2025
"Rosenthal introduced an amendment that would have required public schools to display the Jewish and Catholic versions of the Ten Commandments, in addition to the Protestant version, which all have slightly different wording. The amendment’s failure to pass, he argued, showed the hypocrisy of the bill’s supporters.
“The fact that they will argue it’s only about values and not about religion, I think it’s a pretty disingenuous talking point,” he said. “The whole thrust of this, I think, is to get a case in front of a newly formed Supreme Court.” The U.S. Supreme Court has had a 6-3 conservative majority since 2020."
No
Because there should be zero religious indoctrination in schools, and this person is arguing there isn’t enough
Regardless which one of these two “wins” it’s still not solving any problems. Which I really thought was obvious enough it didn’t need explicitly said, yet here we are.
This person is arguing that the state legislature is so inflexible in its definition of “The Ten Commandments” that they won’t even accept the widely circulated variants employed by two of the world’s largest religions. This is laying the foundation for a Constitutional argument against the law by demonstrating that the legislature is attempting to codify a State Religion.
The point isn’t to “win” the legislative fight. Dems are in the minority, so anything Rosenthal puts up is doomed to fail anyway.
The point is to clearly establish the intent of the legislature for the benefits of a future court challenge. In this case, Rosenthal is clarifying that the Texas legislature is not merely interested in displaying some religious swag, but in having the state of Texas statutorily defining what the Ten Commandments are.
That’s a clear violation of the rights of any Texas resident who adheres to an alternative interpretation.