Key Vote Puts Texas Closer to Displaying Ten Commandments in Classrooms

‘The focus of this bill is to look at what is historically important to our nation educationally and judicially,’ a state lawmaker said.

A five-foot-tall stone slab bearing the Ten Commandments stands near the Texas Capitol in Austin on July 29, 2002. Harry Cabluck/AP Photo

The Texas Legislature cleared a major vote on May 24 on a measure that would require the state’s public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

The state’s Republican-majority House of Representatives offered preliminary approval of the measure on May 24, with a final vote to be held in the next few days. If passed, the bill will go to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he would sign it into law.