'Ten Commandments for thee but not for me': GOP senator mocks Texas' MAGA attorney general

02 September

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Phoenix on December 21, 2024 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has called on school boards to start the legal process that could bring prayer — and specifically one particular Christian prayer — back into classrooms.

Paxton issued a statement Tuesday urging school officials across Texas to begin offering students time for prayer and scripture readings, following the enactment of Senate Bill 11 on Monday.

In a post on the social platform X, he shared his statement and wrote, “In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up.”

Senate Bill 11 directs each school board to take a recorded vote on implementing voluntary prayer or religious text reading time within six months, and requires parental consent for student participation. It also mandates that the Attorney General’s office provide legal defense to any district or charter school that adopts such a policy

This follows Senate Bill 10, which requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom beginning September 1, 2025. That law is currently under legal challenge, with a federal judge issuing a temporary injunction blocking enforcement in several large districts.

Paxton has instructed districts not affected by the injunction to comply with the display requirement and is appealing the court’s ruling.

Meanwhile, his Tuesday announcement was criticized on social media, including by a Republican lawmaker.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) reacted to Paxton's post and wrote on X: "There you go again. Ten Commandments for thee, but not for me, eh, Ken?"

Freedom from Religion Foundation, a nonprofit, wrote: "Texas schools don’t need government telling kids to pray — much less which prayer, or which god. This isn’t “religious freedom,” it’s state-sponsored Christianity."

Journalist Mike Glenn wrote: "Catholics don't recognize the King James Version of the Bible and don't recite the KJV version of the Lord's Prayer."

Political commentator Nick Gillespie wrote: "I guess this means government has nothing meaningful left to do."

Writer Rachel Bitecofer said: "They know this is unconstitutional but will be doing it anyway. America has not realized yet that the only thing that kept the Red states from going full Christian Nationalist was the federal government, which is no longer a problem."

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