A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Texas can keep requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments. One state Democrat’s take: that ruling is itself un-Christian.
James Talarico, a Texas state rep running for U.S. Senate, went on CNN this week to blast the Fifth Circuit’s 9-8 decision upholding Senate Bill 10. He called it both unconstitutional and a betrayal of Christian values.
“I think this is an unconstitutional decision. I also think this is a deeply un-Christian decision,” Talarico told CNN, “because we are supposed to be loving all of our neighbors, particularly our neighbors of other faiths.”
The Fifth Circuit’s majority found S.B. 10 does not violate the Constitution’s Establishment Clause or Free Exercise Clause. The court wrote that challengers failed to show the law places a substantial burden on their religious exercise.
Talarico, who is also a Presbyterian seminary student, argued that forcing Ten Commandments displays on public classrooms harms Texas students who aren’t Christian. He listed Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, agnostic and atheist Texans as people the law would alienate.
He also took a shot at Attorney General Ken Paxton, who praised the ruling as a “major victory for Texas and our moral values.” Talarico told CNN he wasn’t sure Paxton was “in a place to lecture us on moral values.”
Paxton replied on X, accusing Talarico of believing God endorses gender ideology, late-term abortion, and “transitioning” children. “He’s completely and totally morally bankrupt,” Paxton wrote.
Paxton had said the Ten Commandments “have had a major impact on our nation, and it’s important that students learn from them every single day.”
