The Texas State Board of Education has recently revealed plans to add more religious content to public schools, including lessons at every grade level and Bible readings during classes. The decision sparked outrage among Texans, especially non-Christians, who see the plans as the state going too far in pushing religious values onto children.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the plans include teaching about Christianity from kindergarten through twelfth grade, with the subject appearing across several topics, including history lessons. In kindergarten, for example, children would learn about the Pilgrims’ journey to America; in first grade, about Catholic missions; and in second grade, about the Black Robe Regiment.
By fourth grade, students would begin reading directly from the Bible, and they would be expected to understand the importance of Christianity in medieval Europe, for example. Tenth-grade lessons would reportedly emphasize the conflict between Christianity and Islam.
These proposals are part of an ongoing effort to overhaul the way social studies are taught in Texas. To become reality, the plans must be approved by June and will only become mandatory in public schools in 2030.
Texas Residents React to Bibles in Schools
The mandatory teaching of the religious text in Texas schools horrified some locals on Reddit’s r/Texas. One user slammed the plan, saying, “Christian theocracy has now begun. Next come the purges of the unbelievers.” Someone else added, “This has gone entirely too far already, and they have no plans to stop.”
One person lamented what they saw as the decline of public education in the state: “Texas was in the top 10 in education before the GOP took over in the 90s.” Others criticized what they viewed as the curriculum’s emphasis on religious propaganda, saying it would not include “actual Christian values, of course. None of that woke liberal ‘love everyone/feed the poor/treat immigrants like citizens/money is evil’ ideas.”
One local summarized the situation by saying, “So crazy that the only Sharia law rapidly appearing is a Christian version,” alluding to recent proposals to remove Sharia from the school’s curriculum.
There is still time before these plans are officially approved and implemented, making it impossible to know whether they will move forward or ultimately be blocked by opponents.
