GOP wants Ten Commandments in classrooms. It's had little impact at Texas Capitol | Grumet

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had palpable Ten Commandments envy.

"Texas WOULD have been and SHOULD have been the first state in the nation to put the 10 Commandments back in our schools," Patrick wrote in a lengthy social media post after Louisiana’s governor signed such a law on Wednesday.

You can understand Patrick’s frustration. The Republicans in the Texas Senate passed a similar measure last year, only to watch it stall in the Texas House. And while there’s vague talk about posting these biblical rules to teach children about American law, the backers of these Ten Commandments bills are really itching for a fight.

“I can’t wait to be sued,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry recently told a crowd. A consortium of civil liberties groups promptly obliged. When the matter inevitably reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, it will be Louisiana, not Texas, making history by pushing for religious displays in public school classrooms that are supposed to be welcoming to all.

Still, if the idea is that such displays reflect our values and inform our understanding of history, Texas should be ahead of the game. A 6-foot-tall granite slab has stood on the north side of the Texas Capitol for more than 60 years, reminding visitors and lawmakers alike of the Ten Commandments. What impact has that had?

The wording on the stone monument opens with: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.” Yet a faction of our state plainly idolizes guns, treating them not as practical tools subject to common-sense regulation, but as instruments of a divine right that cannot be fettered — no matter how many Texans’ lives are shattered by shootings.

Next the slab says: “Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Yet there are many ways to misuse the name of God, such as touting Christian values when they serve a political purpose, then dismissing those values, such as caring for poor people, when it is time to govern. Consider the Texas GOP’s long-running refusal to expand Medicaid, or the state providing caregiver pay that’s so low that some disabled Texans can’t get the basic help they need with tasks of daily living.

Next the slab says: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” That commandment hearkens back in the Bible to the day of rest after God created the world and everything in it. Yet instead of protecting that creation, Texas routinely ranks among the worst states for water pollution and environmental quality.

Next the slab says: “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Yet GOP lawmakers fail new parents in too many ways, from skimping on funding for child care subsidies to leaving Texans to suffer without timely medical care when much-wanted pregnancies are lost.

Next the slab says: “Thou shalt not kill.” Even as Texas leads the nation in the use of the death penalty, one state accounting for more than a third of all U.S. executions since 1977.

Next the slab says: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Which was practically a punchline in last year’s impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton, when senators chuckled as attorney Tony Buzbee noted, “If we impeached everybody here in Austin that had had an affair, we'd be impeaching for the next 100 years, wouldn’t we?”

Next the slab says: “Thou shalt not steal.” But what else would we call the Legislature’s redistricting process, which carves up voting blocs into aggressively gerrymandered districts that rob some voters of their political clout, all to keep one party in power?

Next the slab says: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Yet the lies that Republican leaders tell about the desperate migrants at our southern border, branding those fleeing violence elsewhere as “an invasion” of our country, denigrate vulnerable people for political gain while doing nothing to improve the humanitarian crisis at our border.

Finally, the slab says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house" and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” Yet Texas lawmakers turn covetous eyes toward local communities all the time, wanting to give themselves the policy and spending decisions that rightly belong to local officials and the voters who elected them.

Patrick has vowed to get a Ten Commandments bill through the Senate again next session. But it's clearly part of a larger campaign to push a religious agenda into the future, not teach lessons about the past. Texas lawmakers have had decades to learn from the stone slab outside the Capitol — and all too often, you’d never know it.

Grumet is the Statesman’s Metro columnist. Her column, ATX in Context, contains her opinions. Share yours via email at bgrumet@statesman.com or on X at @bgrumet. Find her previous work at statesman.com/opinion/columns.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: The Ten Commandments had little impact at the Texas Capitol | Grumet