هل العلمانية منتج أم عملية لمنتج (product or process)؟
عبد الله علي إبراهيم
هذا خبر عن توقيف قاض في ولاية تكساس لأمر من برلمان الولاية لتعليق “الوصايا العشر” في سائر الفصول مدارس الولاية كما سبقتهم إلى ذلك ولايات أخرى. وقاضت الولاية جمهرة من الآباء رأوا في القرار خرقاً لاعتزال الدولة الدين دستورياً.
وكتبت كثيراً عن تتبع لعلاقة الدين والدولة في أمريكا أن العلمانية ليست منتجاً تأخذه “قبض ايد” كما يروج لذلك السيد عبد العزيز الحلو وإن لم “يقبض” غادر السودان إلى غير رجعة. وقلت إن العلاقة بين الدولة والدين، مما يحسنون وصفها ب”contested”، متنازعة ولا تعرف متي سيسترد طرف ما خسره للطرف الآخر وأين. وأذكر أن دعوة رفع الوصايا العشر على مباني الدولة كانت مثل النكتة حين صدع بها قاض في ولاية جنوبية أظنها ألباما قبل نحو عقدين أو نحوه بها قاض عددته متطرفاً. وعلقت على ذلك. وها أنت ترى أن الأشياء تبدأ كنكتة أحياناً.
مطلب الحلو في أن ينال العلمانية “قبض ايد” تعني أنه يريدها من محسن سياسي وهو في سموات كاودا مترفعاً من الخوض في وعثاء الصراع لأجلها ونكساتها. فقد دعا إلى جانب هذا إلى مواد في الدستور سماها “فوق دستورية” مثل العلمانية غير خاضعة للتعديل الدستوري البتة لكي يضمن أن العلمانية لن نديها الطير بعد أن لبنت.
Judge Halts Texas Law Mandating the Ten Commandments in School – The New York Times
Judge Halts Texas Law Mandating the Ten Commandments in School
The state law had said public schools would have to display the Ten Commandments in a “conspicuous” location in every classroom in Texas by Sept. 1.
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A poster of the Ten Commandments in a classroom in Willis, Texas.Credit…Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
By Pooja Salhotra
Aug. 20, 2025Updated 2:49 p.m. ET
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A federal judge in Texas temporarily halted on Wednesday a state law that would have required the Ten Commandments to be visibly displayed in every public school classroom by Sept. 1.
The law, passed earlier this year by the Republican-controlled Legislature, mirrors one in Louisiana that was declared “plainly unconstitutional” in June by a panel of judges from the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. A federal judge also blocked a nearly identical measure in Arkansas this month.
In Texas, 16 families from different faith backgrounds brought the legal challenge. They argued that the law would pressure students to adopt a state-favored religious scripture and that it amounted to a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
The version of the Ten Commandments that the law would have required was drawn from the King James Bible, the families said, and it would not have reflected other religious groups’ interpretations of the Ten Commandments.
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Some parents also argued that portions of the commandments are inappropriate for young children, including the lines “thou shalt not commit adultery” and “though shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”
“Even though the Ten Commandments would not be affirmatively taught, the captive audience of students likely would have questions,” Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas wrote in his decision. “Teenage boys, being the curious hormonally driven creatures they are, might ask: ‘Mrs. Walker, I know about lying and I love my parents, but how do I do adultery?’”
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Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, whose office represented most of the school districts that were sued, called the Ten Commandments a “cornerstone of our moral and legal heritage” and vowed to appeal the decision.
The Texas law requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in a “conspicuous” location in each classroom on a typeface visible from anywhere in the classroom. The law mandated that a poster of the commandments be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall and only include the text of the Ten Commandments. Under the law, school districts would be required to accept donations of Ten Commandments posters, and they would be allowed to use district funds to purchase posters.
“The public school is a secular space, and it feels like our freedoms are being encroached upon when students are going to walk into a classroom and immediately be presented with religious doctrine,” said Rabbi Mara Nathan, one of the plaintiffs. Rabbi Nathan, who lives in San Antonio, said the law would also make her child, and other children of different religious backgrounds, feel unwelcome.
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The Supreme Court struck down a similar Kentucky law in 1980 on First Amendment grounds. But supporters of the Texas law have pointed to more recent cases that have expanded the role of religion in public life, such as one from 2022 in which the Supreme Court ruled that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray on the field after a team’s game.
Proponents also argue that the Ten Commandments are a historical document that laid the foundation for the modern legal system. And they say that students would not be forced to recite the commandments or change their beliefs simply because they are displayed in school.
“The Constitution does not guarantee citizens a right to entirely avoid ideas with which they disagree,” William Farrell, a lawyer from Mr. Paxton’s office representing some of the school districts, said during a hearing on the Texas case. The displays, he said, “will hang on the wall, and students aren’t required to do anything with them.”
Judge Biery’s ruling applies only to the 11 school districts named in the lawsuit, including the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest, and the Austin and Plano school districts.
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