A ten -command poster that hangs in a classroom classroom of Suburban Dallas is surrounded by hot pink posters with early Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.
A substitute teacher north of Houston is sending his twin daughters to school with buttons of the first amendment and offering the same pins to other children in his neighborhood.
Meanwhile, a teacher in southeast Texas said she is playing a “risky game” after deciding that he will not show the ten commandments in his classroom. But if he must, he said, he will hang it upside down.
These quiet acts of challenge are being developed as a new state law created by the Republicans, known as the Senate bill 10, it enters into force this month that requires that Texas’s Primary and Public Secondary schools hang the ten commandments in each classroom. A school district “must accept any offer from a private poster donated”, otherwise, “it can, but is not obliged to buy posters” using district funds, according to the law.
It is not clear how many districts have complied with the law since the beginning of the school year.
In addition, a handful of school districts where parents and faith leaders have presented legal challenges remain exempt from the mandate as the federal litigation develops. The plaintiffs argue that forcing the ten commandments to public schools is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of the Church and the State.
However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on September 4 that districts not linked to litigation must be in accordance with the legislation. The legislation does not have an application mechanism, and it is not clear what could happen with the individual schools or teachers who refuse to comply.
The Paxton office did not respond to a request for comments.
Regardless of how individual school districts enforce the law, teachers who spoke with NBC News said they are being placed in an awkward position to fulfill and feel in conflict with their own beliefs. Some also worry that posters seem to favor a religion over others and can stimulate uncomfortable conversations about Christianity that they do not want to have in an environment of public schools.
“He says: ‘You will not covet your neighbor’s wife’. First, that means zero for my students,” said an art teacher of elementary school in the Dallas suburbs who asked not to be appointed for fear of the reprisal of work. “If I was in writing as’ being kind to each other. They don’t steal. Don’t lie ‘, or’ I know a good person ‘, because as a primary school teacher, I teach those things all the time. As in the first week of school, I have all this presentation that I make, and part of it is,’ Please do not rob our art supplies.”
The teacher said that her district is diverse, and because her school includes students from different religions, she decided to hang posters of the principles of other religions around the poster of the ten commandments. The screens include the five pillars of Islam, the four noble truths of Buddhism and a list of ethical principles of Hinduism, which include non -violence and veracity.
Until now, no administrator has realized the posters or told him to tear them down.
“One of my teachers’ friends entered and saw him, and she laughed,” said the teacher. “She said: ‘You know, I’m about to hang the ten commandments’, and I said: ‘Ok, well, do you think I shouldn’t hang these other posters?’ And she said: ‘No, I’m in favor of the ten commandments, so I’m also hanging the rest of that.’ “
An art teacher of high school who spoke with NBC News said she has refused to present a poster of the ten commandments, questioning the intentions of legislators. Legislators also approved a bill this year allowing school districts to adopt policies that allow a period of prayer in schools and the reading of the Bible or “other religious text” with the consent of the parents.
“Where do you draw the line?” He asked the teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is worried about being fired, and added that “we have constitutional rights, including freedom of and religion.”
“I am playing a risky game of how long I can not have it before they tell me that I need to put it or be fired,” said the teacher. “If I have to put it, I would put it backwards. I think that would not break, technically, break the rules of the bill.”
The law requires showing a “durable poster or framed copy” of the ten commandments in a “conspicuous place in each classroom of the school.” The screens must be at least 16 inches by 20 inches and include the ten commandments written in the legislation, which reflects a Protestant version of the text.
The Christian groups in support of SB 10 are collecting donations to help schools in Texas to receive ten posters of commandments, as well as in Arkansas, where a similar law entered into force in this school year and is being challenged in court.
Restoure American Schools, a website backed by conservative commentator Glenn Beck, says he has “adopted” more than 4,100 schools in Texas and more than 300 in Arkansas.
“Together, we can bring truth, hope and moral clarity to our classrooms, one school at the same time,” says the site.
Others have begun to produce posters as an alternative to the ten commandments.
Bob Peck, writer and philosopher in Austin, has designed posters that involve other religions that teachers could also hang in their classroom. About 100 parents and teachers have communicated through their ETSY store since it began selling them during the summer.
“The law says that teachers must show the ten commandments, but I have understood that there is no prohibition to frame the doctrines of other religions,” said Pck, adding that “children deserve to see the beauty of Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism.”
Angela Achen, a substitute teacher from the Independent School District of Conroe in Montgomery County, north of Houston, said SB 10 caused a conversation with her twin daughters in the sixth grade.
At first they thought of creating a poster about their opposition to the law, but that was transformed to create buttons.
The buttons promote the full text of the first amendment, inspired by the first clause: “Congress will not make any law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Achen, a former exercise lawyer, does not distribute the pins or use them in the classroom, but their daughters bring them to school and leave a bag on their front porch so that others take it. She estimates that almost 300 have been distributed.
“We had a complete talk, such as: ‘Before starting to deliver them, you should know what you are talking about. Let’s talk about the five different freedoms that are on the first amendment,” Air said. “We talked about them, I asked questions, I made sure they understood it. I heard of their teachers that they are not only giving these buttons, but they are explaining them to the other children. At first, we did not know if the children were going to use them, but is becoming popular.”
A spokesman for the Independent School District of Conroe said that it complies with state law and that people can share concerns at the meetings of the Board of Trustees or with the District Administrators.
Teachers in school districts where ten -command posters have not yet been distributed say they are reflecting on how they want to address them with students, if they do.
Ajha Farrow, who teaches English and theater to students from 10 to 14 years in a rural area of northern Texas, said a local church has announced that he would soon donate posters.
When that happens, said Farrow, he plans to design a “wall of world religions” to include all religions and ideologies.
The teachers of his school have the ability to publish “sentimental things” in their classrooms, he added.
“We have teachers who have biblical verses, as well as teachers who have photos of them with their LGBTQIA+partners. That freedom should be there,” Farrow said. “But to demand a walk of life, a religion, it is extremely unconstitutional. And plan to be as malicious as possible so that all my students, regardless of religion, or the lack of it, feel valued, comfortable and seen.”
