Controversial Bills on Religious Displays and Book Bans Fail in Texas and Louisiana

A bill requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in Texas public school classrooms failed to get a vote by the House before a crucial Tuesday night deadline. Democrats opposed the idea, saying it would be an insult to non-Christian Texans and an attempt to erode the separation of church and state. Conservative Christians have been pushing to center public life around their religious views, including a bill to allow unlicensed religious chaplains to work in Texas schools. Recent polling found more than half of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with claims that the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation.