A Texas Democrat is drawing backlash after arguing that a proposal to display the Ten Commandments in public schools would actually harm the very faith traditions it claims to represent.

During a discussion about the legislation, state Rep. James Talarico argued the debate isn’t about the value of the Ten Commandments themselves but about whether government should promote them in schools.

“We’re not debating whether the Ten Commandments are good or not,” Talarico said. “We’re debating whose job it is to teach them and to promote them.”

Talarico went further, claiming the bill “does a disservice to both Judaism and Christianity,” arguing that the state would be “picking and choosing among religions and even among versions of the Ten Commandments.”

He also framed the proposal as discriminatory toward people of other beliefs.

“This bill is not doing anything to love God or love neighbor,” he said. “And in fact, it’s discriminating against our neighbors — our Hindu neighbors, our Buddhist neighbors, our Sikh neighbors, our atheist neighbors.”

According to Talarico, the legislation amounts to “doing violence to both faith traditions that it claims to represent.”

The Democrat also challenged a common argument from supporters that the Ten Commandments influenced American law.

“You hear the proponents of this bill say over and over again that the Ten Commandments are the basis for our law and policy,” he said. “When in fact, there’s no evidence that the Ten Commandments played some special role in American law.”

Talarico pointed to the United States Constitution, noting that it “doesn’t mention Christianity or Christian,” and arguing that its only reference to religion is banning religious tests for public office.

He concluded that the proposal represents both government promotion of religion and what he called “bad history in the name of serving education.”

In a moment that raised eyebrows, Talarico also suggested he and a colleague were “a lot more religious than some of our founding fathers.”

While discussing church–state separation, he cited Thomas Jefferson and the phrase “separation of church and state,” saying critics are wrong to dismiss it simply because the wording doesn’t appear directly in the Bill of Rights.