Texas just made Bible passages required reading for more than 5 million public school students, and the same establishment that never flinches at explicit content in school libraries is suddenly very concerned about the First Amendment.
The Republican-controlled State Board of Education voted Friday to approve a statewide reading list that includes Scripture alongside Dickens and Austen — reportedly the first mandatory reading list of its kind in the nation. The move directly challenges the secular gatekeepers who have spent decades scrubbing America's Christian heritage from the curriculum that parents fund.
The list contains roughly 200 texts, with at least one biblical passage in every grade except kindergarten. First graders will read Noah's Ark. Elementary students get "David and Goliath" and "Daniel and the Lion's Den." By fourth grade, students encounter New Testament passages about Jesus. Seventh graders will read from the Book of Jonah and Psalms. High schoolers get excerpts from Genesis, Luke, Matthew, and Lamentations as supporting material for classic literary works.
The rollout is staggered: elementary students start in 2030, with full implementation by 2033-34.
The mandate traces back to a 2023 Texas law requiring at least one literary work per grade level. The board went well beyond that minimum — and deliberately included the text that shaped the civilization the schools are supposed to be teaching about.
Board member Brandon Hall, R-Aledo, made the case plainly: "There are other faiths that are represented, but they've had a minimal impact, especially in our founding and our culture and laws leading up to this point." The list does not include central texts of any other religion.
That fact sent the usual voices into action. Elva Mendoza of the progressive Texas Freedom Network complained the list tells children "one and only one religious text — a Christian one — is worthy." Rabbi Joshua Fixler of Houston warned the board not to blur the line between teaching about religion and promoting it. PEN America's Kasey Meehan called the move "unique" — as if uniqueness were self-evidently bad. State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, objected that the list lacks Hispanic and female authors.
The Guardian framed the vote as part of a Republican drive to "increase the role of religion in classrooms" and noted that more than half of Texas public school students are Hispanic or Black — implying the curriculum is racially exclusionary. The Los Angeles Times and New York Post used nearly identical language about "widening conservative efforts to push Christian teachings." The Dallas Morning News, to its credit, actually covered the eight-plus hours of public testimony and the substantive debate on the board floor.
What the outlets scrambling to quote critics all bury: parents and taxpayers showed up too. Brooke Mazel, a retiree from Lubbock, told the board her children and grandchildren grew up with "strong faith and family values." Her words: "America should celebrate our 250 years that started as a nation of unwavering Christian values."
Texas already mandates Ten Commandments displays in classrooms, allows schools to hire chaplains, and approved an optional Bible-infused curriculum. This vote makes the state the clearest battlefield in the fight over who decides what children learn — distant ideologues or the parents who send them there.
The courts will have their say next. But the real question is why teaching the foundational text of Western civilization in a Western civilization's schools was ever controversial in the first place.
