Soon, all Texas public schools might be legally required to display the Ten Commandments on their walls after Texas lawmakers voted for a bill that will bring more religion into public schools. A Florida activist has one thing to say: “Thou Shalt Not.”
Well, one more: “Bite me, Greg.”
Self-proclaimed “professional disruptor” T. Chaz Stevens is launching a campaign against S.B. 10 — or, as he calls it, “the Wonka Golden Ticket for unintended religious consequences.” His strategy? Re-designing the posters on the walls. Stevens’ versions are legal, yes, featuring the Ten Commandments, but challenge the bill’s logic. Think Arabic translations, Satanic stars, and, of course, the word “ass” blown up in big ol’ text (as in the donkey from Exodus 20:17 where it says “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house … his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”)
Stevens has coined this specific brand of advocacy as “malicious compliance,” he writes in an op-ed for The Dallas Morning News.
This tactic, he says, involves “obeying regulations so precisely that hypocrisy becomes glaringly evident.” Since the bill doesn’t specify which language the Ten Commandments must be written in, Stevens’ re-designs (and he plans to send 25,000 of them) are intended to test “Texas’ commitment to inclusivity.”
It’s a form of protest so ridiculous, it could actually work — and we would expect nothing else from a Florida guy. But, this isn’t Stevens’ first rodeo in Texas politics.
In 2022, he helped lead the charge against a Texas law that arguably laid the groundwork for S.B. 10, requiring public schools display posters with the U.S. motto, “In God We Trust.” At the time, Stevens raised over $50,000 for a fundraiser to display similarly provocative signs, featuring “In God We Trust” slogans in Arabic, Hindi, Vulcan, or even emblazoned with pride rainbows. Unsurprisingly, a school district in North Texas rejected the signs, NPR reported in 2022.
But that hasn’t deterred Stevens, who’s back for a second round — and ready to mess with Texas.