Myth #3: The Ten Commandments Are Part of Texas’s Political and Legal History

[Chapter 9, post #5]

Governor Rick Perry was the named defendant in Van Orden v. Perry.[1]  Throughout his governorship, he has acted as if he is Texas’s religious czar.  On Halloween, he dresses up as Moses and climbs Mount Sinai.  Of course, neither is true but that doesn't prevent the delusional Perry from doing his best to turn Texas into a Christian State.  Such is the back drop of Van Orden v. Perry.

Seventeen monuments on 22 acres adorn the Texas state capitol commemorating the “people, ideals, and events that compose Texan identity.”[2]  The monuments are:  

1.   Confederate Soldiers

2.   Disabled Veterans

3.   Heroes of the Alamo

4.   Hood’s Brigade

5.   Korean War Veterans

6.   Pearl Harbor Veterans

7.   Soldiers of World War I

8.   Spanish-American War

9.   Ten Commandments [3]

10.     Terry’s Texas Rangers

11.     Texas Cowboy

12.     Texas National Guard

13.     Texas Peace Officers

14.     Texas Pioneer Woman

15.     Tribute to Texas School Children

16.     The Boy Scouts’ Statue of Liberty Replica

17.     Volunteer Fireman

Number “9” sticks out not only because I’ve highlighted it, but more importantly because its the only religious monument in the group.  To no one’s surprise, the Ten Commandments monument also happens to be an expression of the majority religion in Texas -- Christianity.

And so it came to pass that in 1961 the Texas legislature adopted a resolution commending and congratulating the Fraternal Order of Eagles “for its efforts and contributions in combating juvenile delinquency throughout our nation …”[4] and giving its permission for the Eagles to erect a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol.  Seeking to circumvent the Establishment Clause, the resolution did not mention the fact that the Eagles were proselytizing youths (and the general public) through the Ten Commandment monuments and paper copies that the organization distributed throughout the United States.

The resolution itself did not provide enough cover.  The Chief Justice needed more.  So he concocted the argument that the Ten Commandments monument represented the “State’s political and legal history.”[5]  Like so many of his gratuitous arguments, Chief Justice Rehnquist never explained the relevance of Ten Commandments Texas’s political and legal history.

For those wish to turn the United States into a Christian nation, the Chief Justice said it best in quoting Justice Douglas in Zorach v. Clauson: “When the state encourages religious instruction . . .  it follows the best of our traditions.”[6]  Providing religious instruction is precisely what Judge E.J. Reugemer had in mind too when he started the Eagles Ten Commandments Program, and that’s what the Texas legislature had in mind when it passed a resolution permitting Eagles-donated monument to be erected on the state capitol grounds. 

No wonder, then, that the real history of Texas is one about serial Establishment Clause violations.  In addition to Van Orden,[7] Texas is also noted for two other religion clause cases to be decided by the Supreme Court:

• Murray v. Curlett (prayer in public schools)[8]
• Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe (prayer in public schools)[9]

These are in addition to a number of church-state cases at lower court levels. 

Accordingly, the Court not having articulated any role the Ten Commandments played in Texas’s political and legal history, it is hereby declared by a preponderance of the evidence that the only role the Ten Commandments has played Texas’s political and legal history has been a divisive one.

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[1]  Perry was sued in his official capacity as governor and chairman of the State Preservation Board.

[2] Tex. H. Con. Res. 38, 77th Leg., Reg. Sess. (2001).

[3]  More accurately: “Fraternal Order of Eagles Ten Commandments.”

[4]  Senate Concurrent Resolution Number Sixteen (adopted 1961) quoted by the District Court, Van Orden v. Perry, 2002 WL 32737462 (W.D. Tex 2002) at *4.

[5]  545 U.S. 677, at 691-692.

[6]  Id. at 684 quoting Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, 313-314 (1952). 

[7]  Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005) (held that the display of a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas state capitol grounds did not violate the Establishment Clause).

[8]  Consolidated with Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963) (the latter holding that school-sponsored Bible reading in public schools violated the Establishment Clause).

[9]  Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000) (held Santa Fe I.S.D.’s a policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at high school football games violates the Establishment Clause).