SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
greg abbott
Backlash as Texas Approves 'Unconstitutional' Mandatory Bible Lessons in Public Schools
“That’s government-sponsored religious favoritism—and the First Amendment strictly forbids it," said one critic.
Jun 26, 2026
As education officials in Texas ban hundreds of books that run afoul of their interpretation of Christian morality, the State Board of Education on Friday approved a required reading list that forces the state's more than 5 million public school students to read from the Bible.
The Republican-controlled SBOE voted 9-5 with one abstention to approve the list, which includes passages from the Book of Exodus as well as the Shepherd's Psalm and the myths of Adam and Eve and David and Goliath.
"We’re going to stop watering down American history. We’re going to teach the truth. Our nation was founded as a Christian nation, and Texas is a Christian state,” Republican board member Brandon Hall—who is also a youth pastor at Cavalry Baptist Church in Springtown—said during a Thursday press conference in Austin.
That "truth" omits or marginalizes climate change, US imperialism, women's history, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, slavery, and racism.
Evelyn Brooks, the only Republican SBOE member to vote against the required reading list, told CNN on Friday that she believes the board's move is "unconstitutional."
“Teachers need to have their autonomy," she said. "They’ve been selecting books for decades."
In 2023, Texas' Republican-controlled Legislature passed HB 1605, which mandated the creation of a K-12 required reading list and directed the Texas Education Agency to develop state-owned textbooks. Those texts, called Bluebonnet Learning, contain lessons on Christianity starting in kindergarten. The SBOE approved Bluebonnet Learning as an optional curriculum in late 2024 and is currently working to correct thousands of errors in the curriculum at a cost of over $8 million to Texas taxpayers.
The SBOE action comes amid a legal battle over SB 10, a law signed last year by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that requires public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. US District Judge Fred Biery, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, subsequently issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law. Texas families also sued to block the legislation. However, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—who is running for US Senate—demanded that schools comply with the law.
Public schools "exist to educate students with diverse faith backgrounds, as well as those who adhere to no faith doctrine," the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) said Friday. "Public schools are not Sunday schools, and elected officials have no business using state power to elevate one religion above all others. A required reading list that overwhelmingly favors Christian texts while excluding the writings and literary traditions of other faiths, not to mention the perspectives of millions of nonreligious Americans, sends an unmistakable message about who belongs and who does not."
FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor asserted that “a mandatory public school reading list should never function as a Bible lesson."
"Texas is telling millions of children that one religion deserves the government’s seal of approval, while everyone else is an afterthought," she added. "That’s government-sponsored religious favoritism—and the First Amendment strictly forbids it.”
Rabbi Joshua Fixler at Congregation Emanu El in Houston told CNN Friday that "this list is full of Christian texts that are inappropriate for public school classrooms."
"As a rabbi and a parent of Jewish kids, I think it is vital that this board make a distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion," he added. "This list will force teachers to cross that line."
Fort Worth high school teacher Chanea Bond told The Associated Press on Friday that the SBOE's required reading list is "very old and very white."
“It is very narrow and does not represent what classrooms in Texas look like,” she said. “Going through most of high school without ever having much value put into voices that sound like yours kind of sends a message that your voices aren’t valuable.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Despite Delay, Texas Republicans Push Proposal Forcing Students to Read Bible in School
“Religious readings belong in Sunday school, not in public schools," said one parent opposed to the proposal.
Feb 03, 2026
Less than six months after a federal judge enjoined a Texas law mandating display of the "allegedly Protestant version of the Ten Commandments" in public schools, Republican lawmakers in the Lone Star State are pushing legislation to force children to read the Bible in classrooms.
Last week, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) voted 13-1 to delay voting on a proposed list of mandatory reading for all K-12 public school students until April in order to provide more time for feedback and thousands of corrections to a Bible-infused elementary school curriculum approved two years ago.
"This would bring the Word of God back into schools in a meaningful way for the first time in decades," SBOE member and Christian pastor Brandon Hall said last week in support of the forced Bible reading proposal.
However, as Texas parent Kevin Jackson—who spoke against the proposed list at a public hearing last week—put it, “Religious readings belong in Sunday school, not in public schools."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based advocacy group, said Tuesday on social media that "mandating Bible readings in public schools isn’t 'education,' it’s state-sponsored religious exercise."
"Public schools are for everyone," FFRF added. "Government has no business promoting or imposing religion on students. Church–state separation protects all Texans."
Carisa Lopez, deputy director of the Texas Freedom Network—a civil liberties and religious freedom group—said Friday that the proposal "enforces a one-size-fits-all approach in one of the largest and most diverse states in the nation."
“This kind of state micromanagement tosses aside local control and makes it harder or even impossible for teachers to tailor instruction in ways that are appropriate for their students," Lopez added. "Even worse is that this list represents another step by the state toward turning public schools into Sunday schools that undermine the right of parents to direct the religious education of their own children.”
Rabbi David Segal, policy counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, noted that “the proposed reading list relies heavily on Protestant Christian translations and leaves out other faith traditions."
“Public schools have a duty to prepare students to participate in civic life, not to advance a particular religious viewpoint," Segal stressed. "Teaching about religion has always been appropriate in public education, but what we are seeing here verges on state-sanctioned religious instruction."
The mandatory reading list also contains texts that conservative SBOE members say represent "foundational" literature that all students should know. However, some Democratic board members object to what they say is the list's lack of racial and gender diversity.
“This list does not represent the students of Texas,” Democratic SBOE member Tiffany Clark told Education Week. “For so many years, students of color have had to endure a European-centered philosophy, history, without representation of their own history being recognized. That is exactly what we see continuing to happen with this list.”
The proposed reading list follows the SBOE's 2024 approval of Bluebonnet Learning, a Bible-infused curriculum for elementary public school students that critics say violates the US Constitution's establishment clause.
Last year, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott—a devout Catholic—signed SB 10, which forces display of the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms. This, despite an earlier ruling from a federal judge, who found that a similar law in Louisiana was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.
In an extraordinarily pointed ruling last August, US District Judge for the Western District of Texas Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction blocking parts of SB 10.
"Imagine the consternation and legal firestorm were the following fictional story to become reality," Biery wrote. "Hamtramck, Michigan: Being a majority Muslim community, the Hamtramck City Council and school board have decreed that, beginning September 1, 2025, the following teachings of the Quran, Surah Al-An’am 6:151 and Surah Al-Isra 17:23, shall be posted in all public buildings and public schools."
"While 'We the people' rule by a majority, the Bill of Rights protects the minority Christians in Hamtramck and those 33% of Texans who do not adhere to any of the Christian denominations," he added.
I don’t know who this man is but protect him at all costs!! He finally broke it down. So much she had no come back! See the God yall worshipping is yourself and your opinions!! I love how he use the word, the one she claims to know in his argument! Sadly they still won’t get it.… pic.twitter.com/KHqrVf5SHC
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) January 23, 2024
If the new reading list mandate is approved in April as anticipated, Texas will become the first state in the nation to force every student in the state to read the Bible. Former Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters—a Republican and Christian nationalist—mandated that all public school districts incorporate the Bible—and specifically the Ten Commandments—into their curricula for grades 5-12.
It would start with a mandate to read material including "The Golden Rule” in kindergarten, "The Parable of the Prodigal Son” in first grade, and "The Road to Damascus" in third grade.
As Hemant Mehta wrote for his Friendly Atheist blog :
The readings get more specific as students get older. Seventh graders would have to read "The Shepherd's Psalm (Book of Psalms, Chapter 23)” from the Old Testament along with “The Definition of Love” from 1 Corinthians 13. High schoolers would be reading Genesis 11:1-9 about the Tower of Babel, Lamentations 3, and the story of David and Goliath as told in 1 Samuel 17.
"What makes this proposal so damning is that Christianity is the only religious book included in the required readings, and even the more secular stories are infused with more direct religious messages," Mehta wrote on Saturday. "That’s on top of the state-sanctioned curriculum itself, which is already Bible-heavy."
"The Texas Board of Education is shoving explicitly Christian narratives into a mandatory, state-sanctioned reading list and pretending it’s objective when it comes to religion," Mehta added. "They want to privilege one (and only one) religion at the expense of all others, treating biblical stories as if they’re foundational truths and the default moral framework for everyone, regardless of their families’ beliefs."
There is an alternative proposal by Republican SBOE member Will Hickman that would increase the number of more contemporary works like The Hunger Games and Ender's Game and swap biblical texts with Judeo-Christian mythology such as the story of Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark "without any Bible thumping involved," as Mehta put it.
"That might be fine! But that’s clearly not what most Republicans are aiming for," he wrote. "They don’t care if kids are culturally literate regarding the Bible; they just want those kids to accept the Bible as true."
As if on cue, the Wiley Independent School District on Tuesday issued a statement announcing an investigation into what it called the "unauthorized distribution of religious materials" on the campus of Wylie East High School. While the announcement does not specify the religion in question, Marco Hunter-Lopez, who leads the school's Republican student club, said it was Islam.
🚨 Islamic Outreach Booth Sparks Parent Concerns at Wylie East High School 🚨
Wylie, Texas — Parents and community members are raising concerns after an Islamic outreach organization set up an informational booth on the campus of Wylie East High School during the school day this… pic.twitter.com/cNpq1aPfQf
— Texan Report (@TexanReport) February 3, 2026
At the national level, President Donald Trump and his administration have pledged to "protect" prayer in public schools.
“To have a great nation, you have to have religion," the thrice-married adulterer, serial liar, and purveyor of $1,000 branded Bibles said last year. "I will always defend our glorious heritage, and we will protect the Judeo-Christian principles of our founding.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Israel's Supporters Are Using Islamophobia to Distract From Genocide; Don't Fall For It
Every American should recognize these increasingly unhinged attacks for what they are: Cynical attempts to protect Israel from criticism by frightening the American public.
Oct 04, 2025
Sharia law is taking over America, from Dearborn to New York City. So is the Muslim Brotherhood. And they are doing so with help from the communist left.
These claims should sound familiar to anyone who has kept track of the rhetoric coming from the Israeli government's supporters over the past few months. From politicians like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) to keyboard warriors like Laura Loomer and Eyal Yakoby, some of Israel's biggest cheerleaders keep finding new ways to manufacture hysteria about Islam and Muslims.
What's behind this sudden and seemingly coordinated attempt to resurrect conspiracy theories about Muslims that were debunked years ago?
It’s certainly not because anyone truly believes that 6 million Americans are trying to somehow impose Islamic law on 300 million Americans. The real reason is simple: Gaza.
The real threat to our nation is not Muslims in Dearborn or Dallas—it’s corrupt politicians who put Israel first, waste taxpayer dollars on genocide, and try to distract Americans with lies and fear.
DropSite News recently revealed that the Israeli Foreign Ministry is conducting a global survey of the United States and European nations to gauge Western attitudes towards Israel.
The preliminary results show widespread opposition to the Israeli government because of its genocide in Gaza. But the results also show that support for Israel rebounded by 20 points when the pollster stoked fears of “Radical Islam” and “Jihadism.”
Cue the sudden surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric across the pro-Israel ecosphere.
To be clear, this strategy is nothing new.
For years, pro-Israel foundations played a major role in funding anti-Muslim hate groups like ACT for America, the Middle East Forum, and the Investigative Project on Terrorism, all of which are also led by anti-Palestinian extremists.
These groups and their funders have long feared the American Muslim community’s growing population, increased political activism, and consistent support for Palestinian human rights.
Because a thriving and politically impactful American Muslim community might one day reorient US foreign policy on Israel in a more just direction, American Muslims had to be smeared and silenced.
History is now repeating itself amid the Gaza genocide.
Texas Gov. Abbott just responded to manufactured controversy about a Muslim-led real estate project by signing a law that supposedly "bans sharia" (it doesn't) and Rep. Fine has introduced a bill to ban sharia across the country (it won't). Their political stunts replicate an unconstitutional attempt to ban sharia that swept through red states in the early 2010s.
Although anti-sharia hysteria eventually fizzled out, its proponents never gave up their other goal: painting American Muslims and their institutions as puppets of foreign boogeymen.
Israel's supporters in Congress have spent years pushing to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group so that the government can then use that designation to launch witch hunts into American Muslim groups falsely accused of being tied to the Egyptian organization.
The first bill that attempted to do so was introduced in 2014 by pro-Israel hawk former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) with the backing of Frank Gaffney, who is also the founder of pro-Israel (and anti-Muslim) Center for Security Policy. The bill failed. The same fate befell other versions of the legislation pushed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who reintroduced his latest “modernized” bill in 2025.
In recent weeks, Laura Loomer has been using her apparent influence over the Trump administration to demand that the State Department unilaterally designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
So has Eyal Yakoby, an Israeli-American college student who has become one of the Gaza genocide's most prolific defenders on social media. Between September 21 and 29, Yakoby has posted "Ban the Muslim Brotherhood!" at least 12 different times.
Nearly every other post in Yakoby's Twitter feed also hypes the supposed global threat of Muslims, from Dearborn to the United Kingdom to Nigeria. Yakoby even earned a community note for falsely blaming seasonal wildfires in Syria on Muslims "lighting Christian villages" on fire.
Another prominent pro-Israel figure pushing such hysteria is Amy Mekelburg, who has manufactured several controversies about the imaginary threat of sharia law taking over Texas, of all places.
Another odd talking point Israel's supporters have pushed in recent months is the claim that American conservatives critical of Israel, like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, have been bribed by—you guessed it—Muslims.
Every American should recognize these increasingly unhinged attacks for what they are: Cynical attempts to protect Israel from criticism by frightening the American public, keeping political conservatives in line, and silencing American Muslims.
The real threat to our nation is not Muslims in Dearborn or Dallas—it’s corrupt politicians who put Israel first, waste taxpayer dollars on genocide, and try to distract Americans with lies and fear.
They've done it before, and now they're doing it again. No one should fall for it this time.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular