Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wasted no time encouraging schools to test a new law allowing voluntary prayer during the school day in public schools.
“In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed and prayers lifted up,” Paxton said in a statement Tuesday, the first day of school after the law took effect Sept. 1, which was Labor Day.
State lawmakers this year passed a bill allowing school boards to adopt policies setting aside time for voluntary prayer and the reading of the Bible or other religious texts. The law requires each district board of trustees to take a recorded vote on whether to implement the policy within six months, or by March 1. Student participation requires parental consent.
The law also requires Paxton’s office to defend any school district that adopts the policy. The attorney general is empowered to recommend best practices.
“Twisted, radical liberals want to erase truth, dismantle the solid foundation that America’s success and strength were built upon and erode the moral fabric of our society,” said Paxton, who is vying for the Republican nomination for Senate in the deeply conservative state.
