A knock sounds at the door during ninth period, two office admin come in without a word to tape a large blue piece of paper to the door. Then, they leave. Students become confused about the unexpected interruption, but they are even more confused by their own opinions on the title of the paper: the Ten Commandments.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10 into law, enforcing Texas schools to, come September, have the Ten Commandments posted in every classroom. This has sparked many opinions in schools and among students, not all of them encouraging this change.
“I don’t think the 10 commandments should be posted in classrooms because not everyone has the same religion, and people should accept that not everybody believes the same thing,” sophomore Dublin Mckibben said. “Religion is very personal to people which is why religion and state are typically separated, which is the way it should stay.”
This same law came up in 1980 in the state of Kentucky. Kentucky required every school to post the Ten Commandments in their classrooms, but Sydell Stone and a group of parents challenged this law saying that it was unconstitutional. This turned into a court case known as Stone vs Graham, which eventually was won by Stone when the court ruled that the Ten Commandments served no “secular legislative purpose”. They took the posters down, but now they have returned to school walls.
“I think that it can be an infringement on some people’s personal freedoms, and that some people may feel uncomfortable by it,” senior Breckin Scroggins said. “But also, I think it should be taken into consideration that our government was built on a Christian ideology, and so there is separation of church and state, yes, but also the fundamentals of those beliefs are integrated into our policies.”
Some Christian students at Amarillo High believe that the posters represent negatively on the religion of Christianity, despite the fact that it supposedly encourages Christian behavior.
“I really don’t think you can force a religion or belief on somebody,” junior Eli Pirtle said. “Putting commandments on the wall…I don’t think that’s gonna lead anybody to Christianity…that’s not gonna necessarily help anybody. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I love it, but it’s just not Christianity… it was politically motivated, and it’s not the right way.”
Overall, no one knows if this law will stay in effect or if it will slowly become forgotten about or removed like in 1980.
“I think it’ll have much more of a neutral effect on people,” senior Brecken Scroggins said. “And…quite frankly, we’re going to forget about it in the next month, because people don’t look around a lot.
