Texas Board of Education approves reading list requiring students to study Bible stories

(CN) — Texas’ State Board of Education voted Friday to approve a list of required readings for K-12 students that includes Bible stories, drawing criticism from faith and religious freedom groups.

The list was created under a 2023 state law requiring the board to specify “at least one literary work to be taught in each grade level.” The Republican-majority board voted 9-5 to approve required readings that include picture-book versions of “David and Goliath” and “Daniel and the Lion’s Den” for elementary students, part of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” for seventh graders and passages such as the Bible’s parable of the prodigal son and excerpts from the Book of Job for high school students.

The list will be rolled out in phases, beginning with elementary students in 2030. Parents may opt their children out of readings that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs, though students could still be tested on them.

The education board and the Texas Education Agency did not respond to requests for comment on the vote.

Supporters say the new list reflects the religious traditions on which the nation was founded. Critics argue it undermines religious freedom and amounts to state-mandated religious indoctrination.

Days before the vote, a coalition of faith-based groups held a funeral outside the Barbara Jordan State Office Building, where the board meets, to mourn what they called the “death” of religious freedom in public schools.

“The State Board of Education is inflicting real pain on children, parents and teachers – taking away their freedom of conscience and religious liberty,” Rabbi David Segal, policy counsel for Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said in a statement.

“As the board mandates Protestant Christian texts – and Protestant Christian interpretations of other religious texts – in reading lists and social studies curriculum, it is eliminating the voices, history and rich contributions of many of our neighbors. This symbolic funeral allowed us to mourn together and remind all Texans what is being taken away from us: our right to think, worship, and believe as our consciences dictate.”

The approval of the reading list comes amid a broader fight over the separation of church and state in Texas schools. In April, the Fifth Circuit ruled that a Texas law mandating that the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom could take effect.