For more than four decades, almost every patient at Midland Memorial Hospital could count on a visit from “Brother Bob” Porterfield, pastor of West Kentucky Avenue Baptist Church in Midland.

The COVID-19 pandemic marked the end of his regular hospital visits, but Porterfield—who turns 93 in August—continued to preach regularly until a year ago.

Even after he fell and broke his hip, he delivered sermons from a chair.

“Nothing in the Bible says you have to stand up to preach,” Porterfield said.

After all, Jesus preached sitting down in a boat, he noted.

More than 300 people from throughout the community gathered for Porterfield’s retirement reception recently at West Kentucky Avenue Baptist Church, where he now carries the “pastor emeritus” title.

Called ‘Brother Bob’ even before God’s call

He was born James Robert Porterfield on Aug. 31, 1931, in Plainview. But his father called the youngster “Brother Bob” long before he answered God’s call to ministry, since he was little brother to firstborn son David.

“Brother Bob” made his profession of faith in Christ and was baptized at an early age. He felt called to preach during his senior year of high school, and First Baptist Church in Petersburg promptly licensed him to the ministry.

Porterfield practiced preaching while driving a tractor on his father’s dairy farm, considering the cows as his first congregation.

However, he never tried to use the cows to practice baptizing.

While he was attending Wayland Baptist University, “Brother Buck” Rogers—a Southern Baptist evangelist—recruited him to preach revival services and plant churches in North Dakota and the surrounding area.

While preaching at First Baptist Church in Wolf Point, Mont., he met 16-year-old Delphie Crause. They married on Dec. 26, 1954.

Instead of throwing rice at the newlyweds, church members tossed snowballs at the couple as he pushed his bride down the hill in a wheelbarrow.

In the years that followed, the couple served small churches around the country. “Brother Bob” served as a bivocational pastor, making his living as a fruit picker and county surveyor in California, a logger in Arkansas, an insurance agent in Lubbock and bread truck driver in Marfa.

Calvary Baptist Church in Monahans called him as pastor in 1969.

The Porterfields served in Monahans until they moved to Midland in 1976. “Brother Bob” became pastor of West Kentucky Avenue Baptist Chapel, then a mission congregation of First Baptist Church.

Faithful ministry to hospital patients

That same year, he began visiting patients every morning except Sunday at Midland Memorial Hospital. He often distributed Bibles to anyone who was willing to receive one, including the medical staff.

“It wasn’t unusual for him to receive a phone call from the hospital in the middle of the night, and he’d go sit and pray with a patient or family there,” his son Steven recalled.

His son noted “Brother Bob” filled many small notebooks with prayer requests and other information he gathered on his hospital visits.

After the Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—HIPAA—passed in 1996, some of the “higher ups” at the hospital became concerned about patient privacy and were less welcoming of his daily visits and copious notes, Porterfield recalled.

“If the big shots said something to me, I’d just move along to the next floor and keep making visits,” he said.

Porterfield continued his hospital ministry until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions forced him to discontinue the visits.

As an expression of their appreciation to him, many of the hospital staff participated in a drive-by birthday party for him in 2020, his daughter Ann noted.

Salvation in Christ is ‘what it’s all about’

His children note their mother was an integral part of Porterfield’s ministry and was dearly loved by the community. When she died on March 6, 2004, First Baptist Church made its sanctuary available for her funeral, which drew more than 900 people.

About 10 years ago, one of Porterfield’s children looked through his father’s notes and discovered he had performed at least 1,600 weddings and even more funerals.

Porterfield lost track of how many people he baptized through the years, but sharing his faith and seeing people come to faith in Christ remains his passion.

He speaks wistfully of citywide evangelistic crusades, when churches of all denominations cooperated in events to proclaim the gospel at the local coliseum.

“Brother Bob” cites John 3:16 as his favorite Bible verse. And he expresses concern for longtime friends who still have not professed faith in Jesus.

“I want to see people get saved,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom in Texas and vetoed a $60 million budget appropriation that would have provided food for about 4 million of the state’s poorest children.

Those measures were among the 1,155 bills Abbott signed into law from the 89th Texas Legislature and 28 vetoes he issued before the midnight June 22 deadline.

On June 21, Abbott signed SB 10, which requires each public-school classroom to display a poster at least 16 by 20 inches with prescribed wording of the Ten Commandments.

The state-approved language is an abridged version of Exodus 20:2-17 from the King James Version of the Bible.

Proponents of the bill noted the language included in the bill replicates the words inscribed in a monument near the Texas Capitol, which withstood a Supreme Court challenge in 2005.

Opponents of the legislation pointed out Jews, Catholics and Protestants number the commandments differently, and their wording varies. So, the required language favors the Protestant approach as the state-sanctioned version, they insisted.

Lawsuit looming

The Texas House of Representatives voted to approve an amended version of the bill that requires the Texas Attorney General to defend school districts in any lawsuits sparked by the classroom Ten Commandments displays.

At least one lawsuit already has been promised. After lawmakers approved the final version of the bill March 28, a coalition of civil liberties groups—including Americans United for Separation of Church and State—pledged to sue if Abbott signed it into law.

Soon after the last-minute flurry of bill signings and vetoes, media attention focused primarily on Abbott’s veto of SB 3. The bill would have banned consumable products containing THC, the principal psychoactive element of cannabis.

The governor maintained the ban—a legislative priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick—would be subject to constitutional challenges.

Instead, Abbott called a special legislative session beginning July 21, instructing lawmakers to find a way to strictly regulate the hemp derivative rather than ban it outright.

Vetoed funds for summer food program

In an action that attracted less notice, Abbott vetoed a $60 million appropriation that would have provided funds for Texas to administer the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program.

Currently, 37 other states participate in the USDA program that helps reduce food insecurity by providing low-income families access to food when their children are out of school.

Eligible families receive a preloaded EBT card with $40 a month per eligible child to purchase food from approved grocery stores.

In his line-item veto of the appropriation, Abbott cited “significant uncertainty regarding the federal matching rates for this and similar programs.”

 “Once there is more clarity about the long-term ramifications for creating such a program, the Legislature can reconsider funding this item,” Abbott stated.

Celia Cole, director of Feeding Texas, the state association of food banks, said her organization was “deeply disappointed” in the governor’s decision.

“This program would have provided critical nutrition support to children during the summer months when school meals are unavailable and food insecurity often peaks,” Cole stated.

“While we recognize that federal matching rates for SNAP remain uncertain due to the budget reconciliation bill currently being negotiated by Congress, this decision comes at a time when nearly 1 in 4 children in Texas already face food insecurity. Families across our state are struggling to put food on the table, and Summer EBT is a proven tool to help bridge that gap.

“We urge Congress to ensure that states are not burdened with unsustainable costs when implementing federal nutrition programs like Summer EBT and SNAP. We also call on federal lawmakers to reject proposals included in the budget reconciliation bill that would shift the financial burden of SNAP benefits or more administrative expenses onto states like Texas.”

Could have provided food for 4 million children

Jeremy Everett, founding executive director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, called news of the governor’s action “a gut punch.”

While the program would have cost the state $60 million, it would have produced a positive $450 million impact on Texas communities, he noted.

“Those are resources that would have been spent in local grocery stores, benefiting local communities and helping Texas farmers,” Everett said.

More importantly, it would have provided additional low-cost meals for up to 4 million children in the state’s most impoverished households, he insisted.

“These are families who already have the deck stacked against them,” he said.

Everett pointed to clear evidence linking nutritious meals to children’s improved educational outcomes and their long-term health and flourishing.

“Anything we can do to invest in our kids pays off in dividends down the road,” Everett said.

Budgets reveal values, he observed.

“Texas is at its best when we are investing in our lowest-income households, giving them opportunities to become self-sustaining and giving their children the opportunity to thrive as God intended,” Everett said.

(RNS)—A new Texas law mandating schools set a time for students to pray likely will be popular with many residents of the Lone Star State.

A new report from the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center found that 61 percent of adults in Texas say they approve of allowing teachers to lead Christian prayers in the classroom.

That makes Texas one of 22 states where at least half of the population approves of such prayers, and one of 14 states, mostly in the South, where 60 percent of the population agrees.

Majorities in 12 states oppose teacher-led prayer. In 16 states, the population is split.

Overall, 52 percent of Americans approve of Christian prayer in schools, according to a new analysis of data from the most recent Pew Religious Landscape Study, published earlier this year. Forty-six percent disapprove.

“Today, Americans are deeply split on the question of whether to allow Christian prayer in school,” the report says.

Time set aside for prayer and Scripture reading

That’s not stopping officials in states like Texas from pushing to allow more prayer in schools—although they are not mandating it be Christian.

On Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law that requires schools to set aside time for students and staff to take part in voluntary prayer and Scripture reading.

Under the law, school officials are required to “provide students and employees with an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day.” The same law, however, also bars students and staff from participating unless they sign a consent form.

Abbott also signed a separate law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. A federal appeals court recently ruled a similar law in Louisiana was unconstitutional.

Steven Collis, professor of law and director of the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center at the University of Texas at Austin, said the Texas law appears to have been written to avoid concerns about coerced prayers and other First Amendment restrictions.

The law requires school districts to set up a time for prayer but bars students or school employees from participating unless they’ve signed a consent form, saying they understand the prayers would be voluntary. Any participant also must agree not to sue the school over prayer.

The bill also bans prayers over a public address system—as well as prayers or Bible readings where anyone who has not signed a consent form can hear them.

Court challenges still likely

Collis said the law appears to be testing what kind of prayer at schools will be allowed, following a 2022 Supreme Court decision in favor of a former high school football coach who was fired after praying on the field after games.

“I think it’s clear to me the legislature drafted this in a way to try to account for current case law,” Collis said.

Collis said the law still likely will face challenges in court. What happens, he said, if 95 percent of the students get consent to take part in prayer? Will the remaining students feel pressure to do so as well? What if teachers end up leading prayers?

The law professor said much will depend on how the new law is implemented.

“To me, it’s not an obvious establishment clause violation under current case law,” he said.

Collis said he’s wary about public polling on prayer in school, saying that while folks may approve of prayer, they also likely only approve of some prayers.

“Everything comes down to how you’re defining the phrase prayer in schools,” he said. “Nobody wants anyone else’s prayers forced upon them.”

‘No child should be pressured to perform piety’

Rocío Fierro-Pérez, political director of Texas Freedom Network, opposes the new law, calling it “unconstitutional and morally reprehensible.”

“No child should be pressured to perform piety to feel safe or accepted in a public-school classroom,” Fierro-Pérez said in a statement after the bill was signed into law.

“No teacher should have to referee prayer. And no family should have to fear that their beliefs will be marginalized by the institutions meant to educate their children.”

Pew’s data showed a wide range of views on school prayer by state. In Mississippi, for example, 81 percent of adults say they approve of Christian prayers in the classroom, followed by 75 percent in Alabama and Arkansas.

In D.C., by contrast, only 30 percent of adults approved of Christian prayers in the classroom, followed by 32 percent in Vermont and 34 percent in Oregon. States like Alaska, Iowa, Montana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are statistical ties, according to Pew data.

The Religious Landscape Study found earlier this year that the decline of Christianity in America appears to have slowed, though at 62 percent of the population, the number of American Christians remains considerably lower than two decades ago, when 78 percent identified as Christian in 2007.

Today, 7 percent of Americans identify with a faith other than Christianity, and according to Pew, 29 percent do not identify with a religion.

As every state in the U.S. has seen religious decline, some states remain much more religious than others. For example, although 73 percent of adults in Alabama identified as Christian in Pew’s most recent study, only 45 percent of adults in Vermont say they are Christians.

Overall, the gap between the 10 most religious states in the U.S. and the 10 least religious states is 21 percentage points.

Although the majority of Americans are religious, more than a few are wary about the public role of religion—44 percent of Americans said religion does more good than harm, according to the Religious Landscape report, with 19 percent saying it does more harm than good. And 35 percent say religion does equal amounts of harm and good.

Fewer than half of Americans say they pray every day (44 percent), according to Pew, down from 58 percent in 2007.

Joseph Adams, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hughes Springs and Texas Baptists’ incumbent second vice president, will be nominated for first vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Bill Skaar, pastor of First Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, announced his intention to nominate Adams at Texas Baptists’ annual meeting in Abilene, Nov. 16-18.

“Joseph Adams is one of the outstanding young servant leaders in our convention—part of the group of young leaders the Lord is raising up,” Skaar said.

Adams has “a heart for missions and evangelism” and a “love for people,” Skaar said.

While his church is in a small East Texas town, First Baptist in Hughes Springs is a leader in baptisms and missions giving, he added.

“He is the pastor of a mission-minded church that is committed to the GC2 challenge of loving God, loving people and sharing the gospel,” he said.

Listening and learning

Adams expressed appreciation to Texas Baptists for allowing him to serve this past year as second vice president.

“It has stretched me as an individual, and I feel like I have grown and learned by working with leaders from all over the state,” he said.

“It’s not so much about wanting to have a voice in the room as having the privilege of listening to all the other voices in the room.”

He particularly offered thanks to BGCT Associate Executive Director Craig Christina and CFO Ward Hayes for leading in the development of the Texas Baptists Indemnity Program. The program was created to provide affordable insurance coverage for Texas Baptists’ churches.

The carrier that had provided insurance for his church “dropped us like a junior high girlfriend,” Adams recalled.

First Baptist in Hughes Springs ended up having to absorb a $70,000 increase to maintain property and liability insurance coverage—a burden many churches would not bear, he observed.

“That’s a staff member’s salary. That’s a mission project. That’s money that could go to the Cooperative Program,” he said. “If we can help assist our churches in the area of insurance, we need to do it.”

If elected as first vice president, Adams said, he hopes to help strengthen and connect rural churches and bivocational pastors, who he describes as “the real heroes.”

Church spending 50,000 hours in prayer

Adams voiced his belief “the future is bright” for Texas Baptists if churches stayed focused on loving God, loving people and sharing the gospel.

He underscored his church’s commitment to the GC2 movement, with its emphasis on Christ’s Great Commission and Great Commandment.

First Baptist in Hughes Springs committed to spend 50,000 hours this year in prayer for revival, missions opportunities and the salvation of neighbors and co-workers.

Year to date, church members have spent 27,000 hours praying, and the church has baptized 28 new believers with two more awaiting baptism soon, he noted.

“The mission field is coming to us. If we can reach Texas for the Lord, we can reach the United States for the Lord,” he said.

“There’s room here for all of us in Texas Baptists life if we lay aside our personal agendas and keep Christ at the center.”

Adams was born to missionary parents in Germany, and he grew up primarily in New Mexico, where his father was a pastor.

Before First Baptist in Hughes Springs called him as pastor eight years ago, he served eight years as associate pastor of Mountain Springs Baptist Church in Albuquerque, N.M.

He has served several years on Texas Baptists’ Mission Funding Council.

Adams earned his undergraduate degree and Master of Leadership in Biblical Counseling degree from Liberty University.

He and his wife Lindsay have five children—Elliott, Noah, Emma, Parker and Walker.

Texas Baptists welcomed 200 attendees, June 9, to a ministers’ dinner, held in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas.

Those present heard from Julio Guarneri, executive director of Texas Baptists, and Larry Mayberry, church planter and pastor of Queens Church in Queens, N.Y.

After dinner, Guarneri highlighted Texas Baptists ministries, providing updates.

He also told attendees about the new Texas Baptists Indemnity Program and GC2 Strong Initiative.

The indemnity program will provide insurance for churches who have been affected by dropped coverage and premium increases.

“We’re developing a plan that is affordable for churches to have the insurance that they need and to free [up] money to do ministry and to do God’s mission,” Guarneri said.

“We’re not trying to sell insurance because we’re insurance people. We’re trying to provide insurance because we’re church people. We’re for the church, and we believe in God’s mission.”

Values guide the work of the ministry staff, he noted, asserting Texas Baptists is biblically faithful, gospel-centered, historically rooted, future-thinking, beautifully diverse, servant-hearted and kingdom-collaborating.

He told attendees that Texas Baptists’ missional theme “for the next couple of years or so” is “strengthening a multiplying movement of churches to live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission in Texas and beyond.”

Guarneri explained a new initiative called GC2 Strong being launched by Texas Baptists. The initiative will focus on three key areas: churches, ministers and missions.

“We want to strengthen churches. … We want to connect, develop, encourage ministers so they can [be about GC2], and we believe that when churches are strong and when ministers are strong, they will want to be strong in the area of missions,” he said.

“At the end of the day, that’s why the convention exists, is to do missions together.”

Guarneri said the initiative is in the design process, which will include “a discovery plan for churches to figure out where they are in God’s call in their lives, living out the Great Commandment and Great Commission.”

Guarneri noted: “It’s a personalized, customized discovery process. We want to customize our resources to come alongside churches, help them get to where God has called them to be.

“Then we’ll launch a small group of this in 2026. We believe that sometimes small is big—a little leaven leavens the whole dough.

“We’ll start small, and we’ll watch God at work. And if it’s his, he’ll make it grow.”

Kingdom collaboration from Texas to New York City

Guarneri introduced Mayberry by announcing him as the new executive director of the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association. He asked Mayberry to share with attendees how Queens Church began and give an update on its ministry, which is supported by Texas Baptists.

Mayberry said across their collection of neighborhoods in western Queens, there are 80 mosques and Muslim schools, but only 13 English-speaking, gospel-centered churches, “so there’s not a church within easy walking distance of everyone in our neighborhood.”

He told attendees an interaction with a woman in their neighborhood inspired the planting of Queens Church in 2012.

“We were doing some ministry outreach work … where me and my wife live, and a woman asked us, ‘What are you guys doing?’”

He said they replied, “‘We’re just picking up trash to show the love of Jesus to our neighborhood.’”

“And she said: ‘That’s crazy! I’m the tenant association president here, and I didn’t even know that you guys were around. What are your plans?’”

He recalled answering: “One day, we might plant a church in this neighborhood.”

“She said, ‘If you plant a church, I’ll be there.’ And [she] was at our church every day, every Sunday until she died a couple of years ago,” Mayberry noted.

Mayberry said his team has labored and seen the harvest be plentiful as a result.

He said Queens Church has around 200 people in attendance each week and “71 of those people have been saved and baptized at Queens Church” in the past five years, also noting 15 of those 71 were over the age of 65 when they accepted Christ.

“There are people who lived their whole lives in this area, in the United States of America, with access to everything you and I have access to, except they do not have a church within easy walking distance of them, and so they didn’t know Christians,” said Mayberry.

“But there are people in Queens who are hungry for the church. The fruit is ripe for the picking.”

Mayberry said the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association, founded in 1965, is made up of 250 churches who are trying to reach a region of 20 million people.

He expressed gratitude for the support of Texas Baptists and the around “10 or 15 different small towns’ [churches] across Texas” who partner with Queens Church.

Mayberry noted some challenges he has faced and opportunities he has seen to share the gospel in Queens that Texas Baptists could pray for and support.

He said one of the biggest challenges of church planting in New York City is indigenous leadership.

“We’ve been there for 14 years. That is very rare. Generally, transplant church planters did not last in our city more than three to five years,” said Mayberry.

“We need New York City kids to be raised in New York City churches and then stay and plant more New York City churches. That is one of our biggest challenges, which is raising up a pipeline of planters and pastors and ministers and leaders in churches.”

Ariel Martinez, lead pastor of Del Sol Church in El Paso, will be nominated for second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

David Lowrie, currently pastor of First Baptist Church in Decatur and soon to be dean of the School of Christian Studies at Howard Payne University, plans to nominate Martinez during Texas Baptists’ annual meeting in Abilene.

“Ariel is a gifted young leader who has demonstrated a commitment to cooperation,” said Lowrie, a past president of the BGCT. “He is a humble leader with a real team spirit.”

Lowrie noted he and Martinez first became acquainted when they each served at a church in El Paso Baptist Association.

While Del Sol is a “flagship church” in El Paso, Martinez “treated every pastor in the association as if he were the most important person in the room, regardless of the size of their church,” Lowrie said.

Texas Baptists will benefit from the experience Martinez brings from ministering in a multicultural context, he said.

“He has learned lessons serving in El Paso that will apply to all of Texas tomorrow,” Lowrie said.

Help churches connect ‘for kingdom work’

Martinez grew up in El Paso, or as he refers to it, “where Texas begins.”

He has served two decades at Del Sol Church in several roles, beginning with three and a half years spent as a youth ministry intern and one year as interim youth pastor.

Martinez was campus pastor at Del Sol Church more than 11 years before becoming lead pastor there four years ago.

After he was approached about allowing his nomination for an officer’s position with Texas Baptists, Martinez said he and his wife prayed about it before he agreed.

“We both felt good about it,” he said. “I just want to serve the convention. I’m passionate about wanting to help other churches connect with one another for kingdom work.”

Serving in El Paso—one time zone removed from the rest of the state—underscores the need for churches to cooperate with other congregations that share a kingdom vision, even if they differ on some issues, he noted.

“Out here, it sometimes feels like we’re on our own. We know we can’t afford to be divided. We have to be united for the kingdom,” he said.

‘The future is bright’

In the next year, Martinez said, he hopes Texas Baptists continue to become increasingly and intentionally inclusive of churches throughout the state, “not just along the I-35 corridor,” he said.

“I also hope we will continue seeing efforts to involve and empower women in the ministry of the church,” he said.

Texas Baptist churches hold different views about women in pastoral roles, he acknowledged, but they can unite in encouraging and equipping women to serve the church and God’s kingdom in varied ways.

Martinez counted the emergence of young leaders within Texas Baptist life as an encouraging sign.

“At the same time, we need the wisdom of more experienced folks,” he added. “I hope we can partner young leaders with experienced leaders, so they can learn from them.”

Martinez expressed excitement about the potential inherent in the GC2 movement, with its emphasis on the Great Commission and Great Commandment.

“I believe God is doing something special,” he said. “I want to see us continue to do everything we can to make heaven more crowded. The future is bright.”

Over the past 12 years, Martinez has served several times on the executive leadership team of El Paso Baptist Association. In 2019, he chaired the search committee that nominated Larry Floyd as the association’s executive director.

Martinez preached at the 2022 Texas Baptist annual meeting in Waco. He served on Texas Baptists’ Sexual Abuse Task Force, and he chaired the BGCT credentials committee.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Liberty University and his Master of Arts in Theology Degree from B.H. Carroll Theological Institute.

He and his wife of 10 years Lauren have a 2-year-old daughter, Everly.

LINDALE—The boys throw tomahawks, shoot rifles and practice archery skills. That’s all part of Royal Ambassadors Camp, but it’s more.

“This camp is a generational training facility for godly men,” said Ed Tunnell from First Baptist Church in Hawkins. Tunnell was among the adult leaders serving in early June for the RA Camp at Timberline Baptist Camp in East Texas.

“I brought my boys when they were this age (pre-teen) back in the ’80s, and I’m now bringing my grandson.”

Then Tunnell pointed to a man nearby, adding, “And this young man right here, he was a friend of my sons, and he came with us (to camp in the ’80s), and now he is bringing his sons.”

RA chapters across Texas hold RA Camp each summer. Royal Ambassadors is a missions education program for boys supported by Texans on Mission. The Timberline camp near Lindale is one of this year’s first.

Influenced by adult Christian leaders

Another dad at Timberline, Bryan Ransom of Southside Baptist Church in Tyler, has been bringing his five children to Timberline camps for about 10 years.

His younger son is now an RA, and his four older kids are volunteers at the RA Camp and the Girls in Action Camp, also at Timberline.

Coming to RA Camp is “a great opportunity not only for me to spend time with my own sons, but also to love others in Christ, hear the word of God, have some awesome camp food, and do all kinds of wonderful activities for a whole week,” Ransom said.

Camp gives him time to be with his children and for them to be influenced by other adult Christian leaders.

“It gives dads and moms a way to spend even more time in the Lord with their children outside of the hustle and bustle of everyday life,” Ransom said.

But the boys also hear other men sharing God’s word and providing leadership. “I think it is paramount and extremely important” for the boys to hear from both their dad and other men, he added.

Southside Church brought seven boys to camp this year along with three older youth who once were RAs and now are volunteer leaders.

Joshua Meadows is an 18-year-old RA volunteer leader from Southern Oaks Baptist Church in Tyler who is heading to college in the fall. Six years ago, the church’s RA boys started coming to the camp.

“My mom would come out here as the leader, and we’d stay with other great people,” Meadows said. Everyone “made us all feel really welcome, … and it was really fun and really enjoyable.”

Southern Oaks has grown its RA program and brought about 20 boys to camp this year, “which is fantastic,” Meadows said.

“It’s just incredible to see how we’ve grown and … to see God’s work through everything,” he said.

Kirk Acheson, camp director, said the goal is to lead the RA boys to being “on mission for God and to share the love of Christ with others.” Acheson, a member of Southside Baptist Church in Tyler, said the camp does this by emphasizing the Bible.

Share the gospel message

Shane Reynolds is the camp medic and a member of First Baptist Church in Alba. He came to faith in Christ as a boy attending camp at Timberline when he was 9 years old.

At camp, “you get to enjoy experiences that you might not otherwise experience at home, like firing rifles and archery and tomahawks. But the best thing is that they’re all exposed to the word of God,” he said.

Reynolds is now a paramedic with UT Health-East Texas, which provided emergency equipment for use during the week.

At camp, “I take care of these guys, make sure they stay hydrated, make sure they get their daily medicine, try to encourage them as best I can, [and] make sure they’re healthy.”

He also said he does “everything I can to make sure that we ultimately share the message of the gospel to these kids.”

But camp is not just good for the boys. Reynolds started volunteering three years ago while he recovered from an accident. Volunteering at RA Camp “helped me physically and really helped me spiritually, you know, to boost my Christian life and my walk with God.”

Kyle Acheson just graduated from high school and said he has been coming to RA Camp for about 14 years.

“I was a camper here for the longest time, and now I’ve been volunteering for a few years,” he said.

“I just love RA Camp, because I love seeing boys do the same stuff that I did as a kid and seeing them grow in the Lord.”

RA Camp gives the boys a “time of reflection and relaxation while also a time of discipline and teaching them about God and his ways,” he said.

“It’s just really a blessing being able to be out here and do manly things at this cool camp and just showing them what it means to be a man of God. … I love it.”

WACO—Baylor University named Charles M. Ramsey as university chaplain and dean of spiritual life, effective June 9.

Ramsey will succeed Burt Burleson, who retired in May.

“I am deeply humbled and profoundly honored to be entrusted with the sacred task of serving as Baylor University’s chaplain,” Ramsey said.

“Baylor is a vibrant community committed to the spiritual formation of all students, faculty and staff, and I am delighted to listen, to learn and to walk alongside individuals of all backgrounds and beliefs as we navigate life’s questions, challenges and celebrations as a people united by the university’s mission.

“My prayer is that we will walk in the light of Christ and be known for the way we love and serve others.”

In his new role, Ramsey will lead and nurture the spiritual and holistic development of the Baylor community while creating a vibrant, caring and supportive environment that reflects the university’s Christian mission and historic Baptist roots, university officials explained.

He will provide leadership for chapel programs, pastoral care, global and local missions, campus ministries, local church engagement and guidance to sports and nursing school ministries.

‘Denominational depth and global vision’

“Dr. Ramsey’s appointment underscores Baylor’s historic Baptist roots and our longstanding partnership with the Baptist General Convention of Texas,” said Sharra Hynes, senior associate vice president and dean of students and incoming vice president for student life at Baylor.

“Through extensive relationships with local churches in Waco and campus ministries, and a keen understanding of the global church, Dr. Ramsey brings both denominational depth and a global vision to spiritual life at Baylor.”

Ramsey’s ministry and academic career spans more than two decades, and it includes global mission leadership, interfaith scholarship and faculty appointments in the United States and South Asia.

Since 2021, Ramsey has served as Baylor’s associate university chaplain and director of campus ministries and church connections. In that role, he nurtured the spiritual and missional life among students in more than 40 campus ministries and the broad range of churches represented in the Baylor community.

From 2017 to 2021, he was director of Baptist Student Ministries at Baylor, providing pastoral services to the community of student leaders and fostering a faith formative environment that ranged from chapels and mission trips to programs and campus-wide events like the National Collegiate Day of Prayer.

Holds two degrees from Baylor

Ramsey earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor as a University Scholar in 1997 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

He continued his studies at Baylor, earning his master’s degree in the history of religions in 2000.

He holds a Ph.D. in theology from the University of Birmingham, with additional graduate work in religion, history and poverty reduction from the University of London, Fuller Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Ramsey was ordained to the gospel ministry in 2000 at Staples Mill Road Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., and was reaffirmed in 2017 at Highland Baptist Church in Waco.

“I am delighted that after an extensive search and interview process Charles ‘Charley’ Ramsey has been named university chaplain and dean of spiritual life,” said search committee member Todd Still, dean of Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“Since Charley returned from the mission field to serve at his alma mater, he has done so joyfully, intentionally, collaboratively and effectively. A person of immense erudition, considerable accomplishment, personal devotion and genuine goodwill, he embodies and extends Baylor’s motto—Pro Ecclesia. Pro Texana. Pro Mundo.

“Baylor and the Office of Spiritual Life will go from strength to strength with Dr. Ramsey serving in this significant and strategic role.”

Moral concerns and church-state issues figured prominently in the 89th Texas Legislative Session that wrapped up June 2.

Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission saw several key legislative priorities advance during the 140-day session, while also suffering a few key losses.

Lawmakers dissolved the Texas Lottery Commission and outlawed lottery couriers. They clarified an exception to Texas’ abortion ban and made incremental progress toward regulating temperatures in state prisons.

“Overall, it was a very successful and exciting session. We saw numerous pieces of good legislation pass which promote a culture of life, human dignity and just treatment,” said John Litzler, CLC public policy director.

At the same time, separation of church and state suffered serious setbacks in the session.

Lawmakers approved an education savings account program that will send public funds to private schools, including religious schools.

They also approved a bill mandating the display of the Ten Commandments—with state-sanctioned wording—in every public-school classroom.

The CLC tracked more than 300 of the 9,000-plus bills filed in the 2025 Texas Legislative Session. They grouped them according to four priorities: religious liberty, sanctity of life, human flourishing, and fair and just financial practices.

Key legislation included:

• Regulating the Texas Lottery

The CLC entered the session hoping to see a bill pass that would prohibit lottery couriers—third-party companies that enable customers to purchase lottery tickets through their websites or mobile phone apps.

Lawmakers exceeded expectations, passing that prohibition in a bill that also dissolved the Texas Lottery Commission, which is the subject of several investigations and lawsuits.

Texas legislators voted to move administration of the lottery to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, where CLC Consultant Rob Kohler said the lottery will be operating “under a bright light.”

The bill to abolish the Texas Lottery Commission and move administration of the lottery game passed in both the Senate and House, advancing to the governor’s desk where it awaits his signature.

Because of the attention focused on the Texas Lottery, efforts to expand legalized gambling in the state never gained traction during the legislative session.

“The fact that the online sports wagering and casino resort bills did not even receive committee hearings was also a great victory,” Litzler said.

• Life of the Mother Act

The CLC supported SB 31, the Life of the Mother Act, which clarifies exceptions to prohibited abortions.

The bill unanimously passed the Senate on April 27. The House approved it May 27, sending it to the governor for his signature.

“The bill clarifies the sole exemption to Texas’ abortion ban by better defining what it means for a pregnant woman to be at risk in a physician’s reasonable medical judgment,” Litzler said.

“It also provides important educational instruction on Texas’ abortion law for doctors’ and hospitals’ attorneys. This protects both pregnant women and their children.”

• Temperature control in Texas prisons

The CLC advocated on behalf of HB 3006, a bill requiring state prisons to have air conditioning and heatingsystems by the end of 2032. The House approved the measure, but it failed to receive a vote in the Senate.

However, HB 500—the supplemental appropriations bill—included $600 million to make improvements to regulate temperatures inside Texas prisons.

That included $226.3 million for “major repair and restoration projects” to install air conditioners, as well as $110 million for the purchase of the Dalby Correctional Facility from Garza County—which already has air conditioning—and $301 million for the construction of new dormitories that will be air-conditioned.

“We are disappointed that HB 3006, which would have required all state prisons to have A/C in them by the year 2032, did not pass. However, HB 500 has over $600 million appropriated to add air-conditioned units,” Litzler said.

“I would score this important issue as still-to-be-determined, but we remain optimistic that every TDCJ prison will have air conditioning in the living quarters by 2032, as HB 3006 sought to require.”

• Electronic Benefit Transfer program

Among the other “wonderful provisions” in HB 500, Litzler noted, is funding for Texas to administer the summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program.

The initiative helps reduce food insecurity by providing low-income families access to grocery benefits.

“Summer EBT is a federal program that provides grocery benefits to low-income families during the summer months when students are not in school and not receiving free or reduced cost lunch,” Litzler explained.

“While Texas will bear half the cost of administering the program, it will also be unlocking access to $450 million in federal funds.”

• Trey’s Law

The CLC supported and legislators approved Trey’s Law. It makes unenforceable any provision of a nondisclosure agreement that would prevent a person from disclosing an act of sexual abuse or revealing facts related to the sexual abuse of someone else.

Pending the governor’s signature, Trey’s Law goes into effect Sept. 1.

Trey’s Law was named for Trey Carlock, who died by suicide. He was traumatized by a restrictive nondisclosure agreement regarding abuse he endured at Kanakuk Kamps in Missouri, his sister Elizbeth Carlock Phillips said in advocating for the bill.

Litzler explained the legislation will ensure “survivors of sexual abuse and their families do not have to choose between restorative justice and the right to share their stories.”

CLC Director Katie Frugé called the measure “a noble and necessary step in returning agency and healing to survivors of sexual abuse.”

• Education savings accounts.

The CLC opposed SB 2, which created a voucher-like system that allows families to direct public funds to private—frequently religious—schools.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law May 3. The $1 billion program—the governor’s top legislative priority—will provide about $10,000 to each participating private school student and up to $2,000 to each participating homeschool student.

It dedicates 80 percent to students with disabilities and—broadly defined—low-income families. The general population, including families with students already in private schools, can apply for the remaining 20 percent.

Litzler expressed disappointment in passage of the bill, noting the CLC’s longstanding opposition to using public funds to advance religious instruction and its commitment to supporting public education.

On the positive side, lawmakers approved HB2, which allots $8.5 million for public schools, including pay raises for teachers.

• Ten Commandments in classrooms

The CLC also opposed SB 10, which requires each public-school classroom to display a poster at least 16 inches by 20 inches with legislatively prescribed wording of the Ten Commandments.

The approved wording—an abridged version of Exodus 20:2-17 from the King James Version of the Bible—replicates the words inscribed in a monument near the Texas Capitol. Jews, Catholics and Protestants number the commandments differently, and their wording varies.

The Texas House of Representatives voted May 25 to approve an amended version of the bill. It requires the Texas Attorney General to defend school districts in any litigation sparked by the Ten Commandments displays.

The Texas Senate agreed to the House version of the bill and voted May 29 to send it to the governor’s desk for signing.

A coalition of civil liberties groups immediately responded by pledging to sue if Abbott signs the bill into law.

When walking through a season of doubts and questions, Morgan Breeden from First Baptist Church in Cuero recognized God was on the move in her life.

“I was [thinking], ‘I’m going through a really hard time in my faith right now, [but] I feel like the Lord is going to use this for something big in the future,’” said Breeden, a high school senior thinking back on her middle school years.

When she was in the sixth grade, she attended a youth event her homeschool convention hosted. She heard from representatives from Teen Missions International, a missions organization that helps launch youth into lifetime missions involvement by training, discipling and mobilizing them to share the gospel around the world.

Breeden said she was “enamored by the thought of missions” and burdened by the awareness there are “people who have never heard the gospel in other countries.”

“I was never able to get over that. And so, [missions] was just always on my mind—to go on mission trips and do ministry and be missional where I am,” she said.

‘I think I’m called to ministry’

Later, as a high school sophomore in 2023, Breeden thought she needed to look to the future and consider “actual career opportunities.”

But that summer at youth camp, she felt God calling her to something different.

“The whole week was focused on Isaiah chapter six, which is ‘Here I am, send me,’” Breeden explained.

Near the end of the week at camp, the camp pastor extended a call for students to commit to full-time Christian service.

She later recalled thinking: “I’m not going to stand up and go, because I’m not sure. But I think God is calling me to this. But I need some time to pray about this.”

Into the next year, the Lord continued knocking on the door of her heart. In early 2024, God gave Breeden the desire to start a Bible study with her friends for girls in their age group.

“[It] was something that I saw as a need, and the Lord had put on my heart to do,” she said.

After being involved in the Bible study a few months, she recalled washing dishes in the kitchen and began reflecting on how God was at work in her life.

“I was thinking about everything that’s been going on, and all these desires [the Lord] had put on my heart, and all these things that I felt he was leading me to, and I was just like, ‘I think I’m called to ministry,’” Breeden said.

Then, a fire was ignited in her heart, and she began sharing her call to ministry with people who affirmed her call, saying, “Yeah, I totally see that for you.”

“So, I had those like inward confirmations from the Holy Spirit, and then I had outward confirmations from people around me,” she said.

Significant role of Bounce

Her freshman year of high school, Breeden was introduced to Bounce, a Texas Baptists ministry that mobilizes students by engaging them in challenging mission service and inspiring times of worship.

Bounce played “a big role” in her call to ministry.

“[Bounce] was my first mission trip I’d ever gone on, and so it definitely instilled in me a love for missions,” Breeden said. “I loved this, and I love serving at church, and I feel most fulfilled when I’m serving. … It just took a couple years for me to put the pieces together.”

On her second Bounce trip in 2024, her junior year of high school, she recognized the call God put on her life.

This year during spring break, she was able to return and “share the news” in an interview with CW39 Houston.

“Going back this year was a no-brainer,” Breeden said. “I just love it.”

Over three years of Bounce, she said, God taught her service “doesn’t have to be this huge grand gesture” to “make a difference in someone’s life.”

“After Bounce, I just come back renewed,” she said. “[Bounce] puts it in perspective again for me every year, to just look for those opportunities [to serve] no matter how big or how small it is … to honor the Lord and worship him.”

Seeing ‘the change that happens’

Breeden said “serving and pouring out during the day” and then coming back in the evening to worship with her co-laborers and be “poured into at night” is what made Bounce so special.

She said her favorite part of Bounce is seeing “the change that happens” in other students’ lives as they serve the community.

“I’ve seen students accept Christ at Bounce and go home entirely changed. So, I would say just getting to serve there and then seeing how the Lord transforms the students that I go with and myself … would be my favorite part,” Breeden said.

She has since said “yes” to her call to ministry, and her peers seem to view her as a leader. She experienced this over spring break as a fellow student at First Baptist in Cuero confided in her about her relationship with the Lord and “some challenges she’s facing.”

“We probably got to talk for like 20 minutes, and it meant a lot to me to be that person that she came to and to get to share with her things that I’ve learned or that I know and get to encourage her and help her in that way,” Breeden said. “That was really impactful for me.”

Since embracing her call to ministry, Breeden said, she’s gained further confirmation and has been “growing in my relationship with the Lord and dependence on him.”

 “I think that’s only going to continue, because the more responsibility I have, like in a ministry role, the more I’m going to have to be dependent on him and just rely on him for strength, because it is not coming from me,” Breeden said.

Breeden encouraged those discerning a call to full-time ministry to look for “inward and outward confirmations.”

“Look for internal confirmations from the Holy Spirit and be prayerful and be mindful of the desires that the Lord put on your heart,” Breeden said.

“Then secondly, look for outward confirmations from trusted people around you, whether that’s your parents or your youth pastor or some friends who are rooted in their relationships with the Lord.”

FORT WORTH—Opal Lee, the “grandmother of Juneteenth” and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient—and “a little old lady in tennis shoes,” as she says she has been viewed—still is walking for freedom and unity at 98 years old, despite a recent hospitalization.

Lee chanced to meet Baptist Standard publisher and editor Eric Black in a Washington, D.C., airport this spring, where she had traveled for an engagement with her granddaughter, Dionne.

They just tell her where to go and she goes, she explained in the interview she gave to the Baptist Standard at her Annie Street home.

Lee confirmed the date of birth listed for her on the internet.

“I’m the oldest person alive,” she quipped, noting, “This is my 99th year.”

She said she was feeling good, so she expects the Lord will be good to her and allow her to make it to Oct. 7, her birthday.

Lee was hospitalized in late May while visiting Ohio for the 30th anniversary of Cincinnati’s National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the Dallas Morning News reported. However, a news release from the nonprofit United Unlimited described her as “still unstoppable.”

Would not have survived without God

Lee grew up the granddaughter of a Baptist pastor with 19 kids, she said. When her parents wed, her mother began attending the Methodist (AME) church with Lee’s dad, and Lee grew up in that denomination.

She said she still attends Baker Chapel when “I’m in town, and I look forward to it.” In fact, Lee pointed out, when she’s out of town she’s “a little miffed, because I want to be at my church.”

Her faith has been important throughout her life, Lee said. “If I didn’t have a God to depend on, ooo, some of the things that have happened, whew, you wouldn’t have survived, you know?”

Lee recalled moving to the location where her house currently stands when she was around 9 or 10 years old. Her parents had moved around some, she said, but they ended up in a house on Annie Street in Fort Worth.

“But the people in the neighborhood didn’t want us. They were white,” she recalled.

Sensing trouble was afoot, Lee’s parents sent Lee and her siblings to some friends’ house several blocks away. Then they, too, “left under cover of darkness, and the people tore the place apart and did despicable things,” she said.

“Our parents never discussed it with us,” Lee said. But they bought a house five blocks away on Terrell Avenue, where “there were whites on one side and Blacks on the other, and nobody seemed to mind.

“But in this area,” Lee said, “they were furious.”

That was on June 19, 1936, Juneteenth. She recalled how her mother had fixed up the house so nicely. Her dad came home from work with a gun that day, “and the police were here.”

The officers warned her father that if he fired a shot, they’d set the people—a crowd of around 500, Lee said—loose, “and let the mob have us.”

Lee emphasized again they’d never discussed that night with the children, “so we all drew our own conclusions.”

Winding road to completing her education

Lee’s parents had planned to send her to Wiley College in Marshall, but she got married instead.

However, after having four children of her own, Lee said she decided four kids to raise was plenty and “cut [her] losses,” meaning her (ex) husband was going to have to grow up on his own, she explained.

As a single parent, Lee enrolled in Wiley College to complete her degree in education—on her own dime this time—but her mother offered to help by keeping the kids.

She recalled working multiple jobs to save up for college, but then she spent it on a TV to help keep the kids home where her mom could keep an eye on them more readily.

“I went to Wylie without a dime,” Lee noted, so she worked on campus during the week and came back to Fort Worth to work another job on weekends.

She finished in three-and-a-half years because, Lee said, she couldn’t do that any longer.

Lee taught third grade until she became a “visiting teacher” who would check on students who were absent and, like a social worker, help make sure they had what they needed, she explained.

Walking for freedom, 2.5 miles at a time

Some reports have said the mob destruction of her family home happening on Juneteenth is what spurred Lee’s push for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.

But Lee said: “I don’t know what spurred me. I just know that Juneteenth was extremely important to me …

“I’m old as dirt,” Lee quipped.

“And so, I decided if I walked from Fort Worth to D.C.” to ask the president to make Juneteenth a national holiday, “maybe he would. And he did.”

The walk Opal Lee took began when she turned 90. She walked 2.5 miles in each city where she stopped between Texas and Washington D.C. The 2.5 miles represents the two and a half years it took for enslaved persons in Texas to receive word of their freedom after the Civil War ended.

Others provided aid and joined her at each location, solidifying her reputation as “the little old lady in tennis shoes.”

Despite all she has overcome and accomplished, Lee’s greatest achievement has been her children, she noted. She lost her youngest son to complications from injuries sustained during his time in the service, Lee said.

It was tragic to lose him, but all her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are her greatest blessings and achievement, Lee mused.

Waiting for a reply from the president

When asked about her views on current events in the United States, Lee mentioned she’d sent President Trump a letter. He’s yet to respond, but as she had been successful in reaching out to past presidents, she was hopeful she might get an opportunity to talk to him.

“I just don’t know where his views are coming from. I don’t understand,” Lee observed. She read her letter to President Trump in an interview available here.

Her letter to President Trump pointed out that “leadership is more than policy, it’s example.” She asserts division is easy, but the “courageous” choice is unity.

“The road to freedom is long, but I’ve walked it my whole life,” Lee noted to the president, before asking him to name a time and place to walk, and she’d meet him there.

But Lee wasn’t too bothered about President Trump’s lack of response. “There’s so many other things that need to be done that I can’t concentrate on him,” she said.

‘We are our brother’s keeper’

Lee played a key role in securing the use of 13 acres of land on the Trinity River to be used for urban farming, Opal’s Farm.

The farm manager, Greg Joel, provides produce for WIC and a food distribution center in the area and takes the rest to market, Lee explained.

Young people concerned about the future of the United States need to understand “we are our brother’s keeper,” Lee asserted.

“We are a people who have to look out for each other regardless of the color of our skin … The Bible says so.”

So, Americans have a responsibility to help out wherever they can. “He’d want us to,” she noted, referring to God.

As for walking, Lee’s family and friends will be out walking again this Juneteenth, in Opal’s Walk for Freedom, the annual 2.5 mile walk on June 19.

A portion of this year’s registration fee will go toward the construction of the National Juneteenth Museum. Participation in the walk can be in person or virtual.

A coalition of civil liberties groups—including Americans United for Separation of Church and State—pledged to sue if Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law a bill mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms.

The Texas House of Representatives voted May 25 to approve an amended version of the bill that requires the Texas Attorney General to defend school districts in any lawsuits sparked by the classroom Ten Commandments displays.

The Texas Senate agreed to the House version of the bill and voted March 28 to send the measure to the governor’s desk for signing.

Americans United—along with the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Freedom from Religion Foundation—called Ten Commandments legislation “blatantly unconstitutional” and “religiously coercive.”

The Texas Ten Commandments bill “will co-opt the faith of millions of Texans and marginalize students and families who do not subscribe to the state’s favored Scripture,” the coalition stated.

“We will not allow Texas lawmakers to divide communities along religious lines and attempt to turn public schools into Sunday schools. If Gov. Abbott signs this measure into law, we will file suit to defend the fundamental religious freedom rights of all Texas students and parents.”

Bill prescribes wording of Ten Commandments

SB 10, sponsored by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, requires each public-school classroom to display a poster at least 16 by 20 inches with prescribed wording of the Ten Commandments—an abridged version of Exodus 20:2-17 from the King James Version of the Bible.

Jews, Catholics and Protestants number the commandments differently, and their wording varies.

Rep. Candy Noble, R-Lucas, who carried the bill in the House, said the prescribed wording of the Ten Commandments in the bill replicates language inscribed in a monument near the Texas Capitol.

“This monument and the words on it have already been approved and upheld by the Supreme Court in a 2005 case, so the wording won’t need to be subject to a new court case objection,” said Noble, a member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.

Noble asserted the bill is “about honoring our historic educational and judicial heritage.”

She cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which the court established a “history and tradition” test to determine if government actions violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

“Nothing is more deep-rooted in the fabric of our American tradition of education than the Ten Commandments,” Noble said.

A federal court ruled unconstitutional a similar bill in Louisiana, saying it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The state is appealing that decision.

Plaintiffs in the Louisiana suit are represented by Americans United, the national ACLU, the ACLU of Louisiana and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

Groups call mandate ‘religiously coercive’

Both the Louisiana law and the bill in Texas are prohibited by longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the coalition asserted, pointing to Stone v. Graham.

“We will be working with Texas public school families to prepare a lawsuit to stop this violation of students’ and parents’ First Amendment rights,” the coalition stated.

“We all have the right to decide what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice. Government officials have no business intruding on these deeply personal religious matters.”

The Texas bill “will subject students to state-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments for nearly every hour of their public education,” the coalition asserted.

“It is religiously coercive and interferes with families’ right to direct children’s religious education,” the civil liberties groups stated.