Hundreds of Tarrant County residents, religious leaders and government officials braved the biting winter wind on Jan. 16 to gather in downtown Fort Worth for the unveiling of a Ten Commandments monument installed on the Tarrant County Courthouse lawn.
Friday afternoon’s dedication ceremony was hosted by Commissioner Matt Krause — who proposed the resolution last year — and County Judge Tim O’ Hare. Some attendees held American flags in celebration of the unveiling while others carried signs in protest.
The monument is “nearly identical to the one on the Texas State Capitol grounds,” according to a First Liberty Institute press release. O’Hare told attendees that Tarrant County’s monument might even be “one inch bigger.”
“This will stand the test of time and be there for many, many years to come,” O’Hare said, speaking of the monument.
Joining O’Hare and Krause on stage was Commissioner Manny Ramirez, First Liberty Institute President and CEO Kelly Shackelford and Tim Barton, president of a Christian nonprofit called WallBuilders. His father, David Barton, often speaks at statehouses and pulpits, arguing that separation between church and state is a myth and that America should be run as a Christian nation.
Texas Rep. Nate Schatzline offered the invocation for the ceremony. The lawmaker and Mercy Culture Church pastor announced in October he would be joining President Donald Trump’s National Faith Advisory Board at the end of his term.
“We don’t just make room for you, God, we give you Tarrant County. Father, we rededicate this land, this county. Tarrant County is the Lord’s,” Schatzline said in prayer.
The monument, which was approved in a 3-1 vote by commissioners last April, has received support and backlash from residents.
Similar monuments have been established in Austin and Amarillo as well as other states, including Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky.
The proposal for a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds raised legal questions in the past regarding whether it should be allowed on government property. The Supreme Court ruled in 2005 the installation at the Capitol did not violate the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from “establishing” a religion.
The Tarrant County monument was privately donated by the American History & Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2015 dedicated to “educating and informing the public about American history and heritage.”
Future maintenance of the Tarrant County monument also will be privately funded, Krause said during the ceremony.
The group has also donated funds to provide Ten Commandments posters in buildings and public school classrooms across states such as Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana and West Virginia, according to its website.
Tarrant County residents celebrate, protest new monument
Lori Segal, 61, said she’s proud to have witnessed Friday’s unveiling.
Segal’s family moved from California to Texas in 2021. Her husband and daughter joined her at the event as a family outing.
“For me, it’s a foundation that we were founded on in this country, and that’s the law, and it’s the character and the morals that all of us should have,” Segal said.
Marklin Jones, 69, said that as a Christian with a charismatic and Pentecostal background, the monument serves as a reminder of what Tarrant County stands for.
“I’m very proud that Tarrant County is willing to put this in front of the south lawn of the courthouse on Main Street and to remind people, it’s there to educate you.”
Others have argued the monument favors Christianity over other religions.
Nearby, protesters held signs reading “these people honor me with their lips but not their actions” and “courts should protect rights, not promote religion.”
The demonstration included members of the Faith & Justice Coalition of Tarrant County, a group of clergy-based leaders from various Christian and Jewish backgrounds. The group is co-led by Rev. Dr. Michael Bell of Greater St. Stephen First Church and Rev. Ryon Price of Broadway Baptist Church.
The display of a Ten Commandments monument “elevates a sacred text associated with a particular religious tradition — namely Christianity — above others,” the group wrote in a statement ahead of the ceremony. The coalition argued the Ten Commandments monument “sends an exclusionary message” to people of non-Christian beliefs.
“This signifies that we’re in deeper trouble than we thought when people are deliberately, intentionally excluded,” Bell said.
Sheri Allen, a Fort Worth Jewish resident and co-founder of Makom Shelanu, participated in the protest nearly two hours before she was to observe Shabbat — the Jewish Sabbath.
Allen said the monument is a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. She noted how the commandments on the courthouse monument are interpreted differently in the Torah.
“It’s very alienating to be in a group where I imagine I’m very much in the minority here, but I don’t feel that way in this interfaith group of friends who really embrace, accept, honor, love, cherish all faiths, and people of no faith as well,” Allen said. “And we all have the right to be here, and we all have the right to worship in our own way without feeling that we are essentially excluded.”
David Grebel was also at Friday’s silent protest. A retired pastor from the Celebration Community Church in Fort Worth, Grebel said it was important for him to stand against what he calls Christian nationalism.
“That Christian nationalist prayer that leaves no space for the people that I pastored in an LGBTQ congregation here in Fort Worth,” Grebel said. And it’s important that I stand up in voice that there needs to be room for all of God’s children, not just the ones that they self-select.”
Krause said he was glad to see peaceful protestors at the ceremony but denied the allegation of promoting Christian nationalism.
“It has nothing to do with any kind of label other than it’s part of the history and tradition and fabric of America,” Krause said. “And we think that that’s a thing we’re celebrating and a thing worth passing down to future generations.”
Penelope Rivera is KERA’s Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
