Required Bible stories for Texas students challenge separation of church and state

Amna Nawaz:

Passages from the Bible will now become required reading for the roughly 5.5 million public school students in Texas. That follows the state Board of Education approving a new mandatory reading list on Friday, the first of its kind in the country.

The Republican-controlled board also approved a controversial overhaul of the state's social studies curriculum for elementary and middle school students.

William Brangham has the details.

William Brangham:

Starting in the first grade, students will now be assigned at least one mandatory Bible passage per year, along with classics by Shakespeare, Dickens, and Langston Hughes.

The new social studies guidelines emphasize Christian concepts and figures while downplaying the significance of other events tied to race in American history and reducing focus on world events.

The state Board of Education said the updated curriculum would -- quote -- "give students a comprehensive understanding of the arc of history." But critics say the changes elevate historical disinformation and violate the separation of church and state.

To help us understand these new guidelines and how they came about, we are joined by Jaden Edison. He's the public education reporter at The Texas Tribune.

Jaden, thank you so much for being here.

Let's start talking about these -- the new requirement, the reading list. The state Board of Education said that this is a classical correction and that the previous curriculum -- quote -- "resulted in generations of students who do not know the greatness of America or its greatest state, Texas."

Now, opponents, as you have been reporting, argue that this is mostly straight white men, coming at the expense of people of color and women. And then there are also these Bible passages. What should we know about this new reading list and specifically what it requires of students with regards to the Bible passages?

Jaden Edison, Public Education Reporter, The Texas Tribune:

Well, this is significant, for a number of reasons, I think the biggest being that, for the first time here in Texas, right, typically, when we have seen the introduction, say, of lesson plans or materials here, as recent as the last couple of years, those have been optional, right?

And districts have had the opportunity to be able to adopt them or not adopt them and to adapt them to children as they see fit. But the final version that was just authorized effectively, again, is the state saying that children as young as 6 years old, all the way up to preparing to receive your high school diploma, will be required to engage with or read Bible passages.

And again, that's significant. You look at Texas, right, one of the most diverse states in the nation, not along the lines of just race and ethnicity, but also along the lines of religion, right, you know, Muslims, Buddhists, folks who are not religious at all, right, will be mandated to engage with these materials that have now been required by the state.

And so, certainly, this is this is extremely significant and something that will impact nearly 5.5 million children here in public schools in Texas.

William Brangham:

We should also remind people that Texas also mandated the displaying of the Ten Commandments in all public schools.

I mean, opponents argue that this kind of biblical education does violate the separation between church and state. How do supporters justify this? What do they argue is the reason for mandating this for all those students?

Jaden Edison:

A lot of what you hear is what we have seen really religious scholars and historians dispute, especially in recent years, is this belief that America was founded as a Christian nation, and so, therefore, all of its laws and policies and practices, specifically as we -- you really think about education and the role that plays in developing young citizens, all those institutions should reflect Christian values and beliefs.

And that's what they have said and what they have argued. And it's also this belief that children cannot learn about, say, for example, Western civilization and European tradition without knowing stories laid out in the Bible.

And so you talk to historians, you talk to educators, you talk to people of various faith traditions, races, ethnicities, certainly, those things are contested, but, obviously, that has been a lot of the rationale for a lot of these policy changes.

You look at the last few years and this feeling that, from conservative advocates and Republican leaders here in the state, that schools are training kids to hate the country because of how they depict America's history of racism and slavery.

William Brangham:

Let's talk about those changes in social studies. That was a very contentious process. Explain those changes and how they will impact students.

Jaden Edison:

I think about these things in tandem, right? And what we're talking about is a complete rewrite and overhaul of the way Texas has historically taught social studies, right? And what we're seeing now is a very Texas-centric, American-centric, American exceptionalism-centric lesson approach.

This new approach, right, is in chronological order, but also, currently, students who are in sixth grade, they attend a world cultures class, right, which teaches them about the various governments and traditions of -- again, of different cultures throughout the world.

It's in the name. Well, that course has been eliminated, certainly, again, a dramatic overhaul of the way things have been taught in Texas and obviously the way things will be taught for years to come.

William Brangham:

All right, that is Jaden Edison of The Texas Tribune.

Thank you so much for being here.

Jaden Edison:

Thanks for having me.