The conservative-majority Texas State Board of Education is considering adding at least 15 passages from the Bible to a required reading list as part of English lessons in public schools – the latest push from conservatives to implement Christianity into school curriculums.
Beginning in middle school, Texas students could be forced to read stories from the Bible including Jonah and the Whale, David and Goliath, and Lamentations 3 in addition to passages such as The Definition of Love from the New Testament, according to the list reported by the New York Times.
The list also includes well-known literary works such as The Diary of Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, “The Odyssey,” various plays by William Shakespeare, poems by Edgar Allan Poe and more.
In addition to the new Biblical readings, the Texas State Board of Education has also proposed making more of an emphasis on U.S. and Texas history into studies of chronological history for nearly every grade.
The new proposed changes have raised concerns from advocacy groups and academics who believe the changes will teach children a one-sided history lesson and “indoctrinate” students.
“Texas public schools exist to educate, not indoctrinate,” Chris Line, the legal counsel for the Freedom from Religion Foundaiton said last year after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recommended schools infuse Christianity into education.
“When you use your official position to instruct children to pray ‘as taught by Jesus Christ,’ you send a message to Texas students and families that the state favors Christianity over all other religions and over nonreligion. This is precisely what the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment forbids,” Line added.
“If adopted as written, these recommendations would essentially leave our children able to recite disconnected Texas facts, but it would really undermine their ability to understand a global economy and the role that Texas plays outside of the state,” Rocio Fierro-Perez, the political director for the Texas Freedom Network, a watchdog organization, told KFOX14.
Will Hickman, a Republican representing Houston who also serves as secretary of the board, told the Texas Tribune in 2024 that the Biblical stories were part of education.
“In my view, these stories are on the education side and are establishing cultural literacy,” Hickman said. “And there’s religious concepts like the Good Samaritan and the Golden Rule and Moses that all students should be exposed to.”
Hickman has also proposed a separate reading list that suggests removing many of the literary works already on the list and adds more passages from the Bible including Noah’s Ark and Adam & Eve.
Last year, the Texas State Board of Education voted to adopt Bluebonnet Learning in schools, a controversial learning plan that critics say infuses Christianity into education.
However, up until now, it has been optional for school districts to adopt Bluebonnet Learning but those who do so receive $60 per student in state funding – which is $20 more than when districts adopt other state-approved materials, according to the Texas Tribune.
The board, comprised of five Democrats and 10 Republicans, is set to meet Tuesday to consider the new academic proposals.
Last year, a federal judge stopped Texas from requiring schools to put up the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom after the state legislature passed a law requiring it. The judge said forcing students to view the Ten Commandments every day likely violated First Amendment rights to religion freedom.
Several Republican-led states have attempted to implement similar laws, which have been met with legal challenges.
After the judge ruled against the state, Paxton encouraged schools to “begin the legal process of putting prayer back in classrooms” as part of his efforts to promote Christianity in public schools.
“In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up,” he wrote in a letter.
