A new Texas law lets public schools set aside time for prayer in classrooms — and Attorney General Ken Paxton is urging them to do it.
Senate Bill 11, which went into effect this week, allows school boards to set aside time for voluntary prayer or the reading of religious texts.
Paxton on Tuesday encouraged Texas' schools to move quickly, saying he wants “the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up” in classrooms. Paxton also recommended students start with the Lord’s Prayer.
“Twisted, radical liberals want to erase Truth, dismantle the solid foundation that America’s success and strength were built upon, and erode the moral fabric of our society,” Paxton said in a statement. “Our nation was founded on the rock of Biblical Truth, and I will not stand by while the far-left attempts to push our country into the sinking sand.”
Under the new law, each school district’s board of trustees must take a recorded vote within six months on whether to adopt such a policy. Students would need parental consent to participate. The measure also directs the attorney general’s office to provide legal representation to districts or charter schools that implement prayer policies.
SB 11 is part of a broader push by Texas Republicans to increase religious expression in public schools.
Earlier this year, lawmakers also approved Senate Bill 10, which requires schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. That measure has already sparked legal challenges from civil liberties groups and is temporarily blocked at nearly a dozen school districts across Texas’ largest metro areas. Paxton says he’s appealing the ruling.
Critics argue the new laws amount to state-sponsored Christianity. Sarah Corning, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas, said they undermine constitutional protections.
“Texas students go to school to learn, not to be evangelized,” Corning told The Texas Newsroom.
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, added that the measures attempt to impose one set of religious views on all Texas students.
“Our Constitution’s promise of church-state separation means that students and their families — not politicians — get to decide when and how public school children engage with religion,” Laser said. “Our attorneys are ready to protect the religious freedom of all Texas public schoolchildren and their families.
