FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Thursday, July 3, 2025
Press Contact: [email protected]
Website: www.atheistsforliberty.org
Atheists for Liberty Condemns Texas Ten Commandments Law
NEW YORK, NY — Atheists for Liberty, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, strongly condemns the passage and signing of Texas Senate Bill 10, a blatant violation of the First Amendment that mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom across the state.
On Friday, June 21, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 10 into law. Effective this fall, public schools across Texas will be required to post a specific Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom, regardless of the beliefs or nonbelief of the students and teachers present.
As a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of secular government and constitutional liberty, we regard this law as an egregious breach of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The U.S. Constitution clearly states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
This new Texas law does precisely what the Constitution forbids: it uses state authority to promote a particular religious viewpoint in a government-run setting. Public school students, many of whom are non-religious or come from diverse religious backgrounds, should not be subjected to state-sponsored religious messaging. The classroom should be a place of education, not indoctrination.
This move mirrors past unconstitutional efforts that were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, such as Stone v. Graham (1980), which ruled that similar mandates violated the separation of church and state. Texas legislators, however, appear more interested in igniting culture wars than in respecting legal precedent or religious diversity.
Atheists for Liberty will continue to advocate for a secular public square, oppose government-imposed religion, and defend the rights of all Americans to think freely, regardless of belief or nonbelief.