Matthew McConaughey Says the Ten Commandments in Schools Aren’t About Religion. “Pull the Author Off for a Minute.”

Matthew McConaughey has a simple answer for parents worried about what their kids are absorbing in school: the Ten Commandments. The Academy Award-winning actor made the case on The Joe Rogan Experience on September 16, arguing that an ancient moral code may be exactly what overstimulated American children need, and arriving at the question just two weeks after Texas made it law.

His comments came shortly after Texas Senate Bill 10, which requires all public school classrooms in the state to display the Commandments, took effect on September 1, 2025.

McConaughey appeared on Rogan’s podcast to promote his new book, Poems & Prayers, a collection of personal poetry and reflections on faith that debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list the same day as the episode. The conversation ranged widely before arriving at the Ten Commandments. McConaughey put the question directly to Rogan: what do you think about the Commandments being in schools?

“Pull the Author Off for a Minute”

McConaughey’s case was not about theology. He asked Rogan to consider the content of the Commandments apart from who wrote them.

“My hang-up is that most people go to the problem with it because of the author: God,” McConaughey said. “Pull the author off for a minute. When you look at the Ten Commandments, is there anything that anyone out there would say, ‘I disagree with that one?'”

Rogan raised the separation of church and state and named specific commandments he thought would give non-religious students pause. McConaughey pushed back, framing the Commandments as a moral target rather than a religious mandate.

“Ten things — if I look at that and just aim that direction, I feel like I can’t go wrong,” he said. “Or I can go closer to right.”

Children are already flooded with competing messages, McConaughey said. They need something stable. He called the Commandments “a foundation in the storm.”

The Texas Law Behind the Conversation

The debate between McConaughey and Rogan was not hypothetical. Texas SB 10, signed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 21, 2025, makes Texas one of the first states in modern American history to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom. The law uses the same King James Bible wording as the Ten Commandments monument outside the Texas State Capitol in Austin.

On August 20, 2025, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction blocking 11 named school districts from complying, citing constitutional concerns. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed and directed all other districts not covered by the injunction to proceed with implementation when the law took effect on September 1.

On April 21, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the lower court and upheld SB 10, ruling that the law violates neither the Establishment Clause nor the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution, according to Texas Policy Research’s April 22, 2026 report on the Fifth Circuit ruling.

Where Rogan and McConaughey Part Ways

Rogan’s objections went beyond legal technicalities. He cited a conversation he had with Texas state representative James Talarico, a Christian also pursuing a Master of Divinity. Talarico’s concern, as Rogan relayed it, is that forcing the Commandments into classrooms will produce the opposite of what supporters intend.

“[Talarico] thinks that this is how you’re going to repel people away from Christianity,” Rogan said. “If we really want to get more people to become Christian, the way to do that is to, first of all, to have open arms and accept people in.”

McConaughey listened and offered a counter-proposal: instead of one tradition’s values displayed alone, invite every faith community to bring its own best principles.

“What if we get with the Hindus and the Muslims and everybody, and you got to bring your best 10,” he said, according to the Christian Post’s September 24, 2025 coverage of the podcast. “Christianity is bringing its Ten Commandments. Let’s get together here and we’ll put them all together.”

He also proposed that schools designate a ten-minute daily window for spiritual reflection, open to all students regardless of belief. No one would be required to participate.

The Question McConaughey Left on the Table

McConaughey’s final challenge to Rogan cut to what he sees as the heart of it.

“Is your problem that it can be considered an oppressive author?” he asked. “Or do you actually disagree with what it says?”

Whether the Ten Commandments belong on the walls of public school classrooms is a legal question American courts are still settling. Whether the values they contain are worth teaching is a different question.

Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey is now available wherever books are sold.