Texas is pushing forward with plans to make parts of the Bible required reading in public classrooms

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Thursday 25 June 2026 10:45 EDT


Texas is poised to mandate Bible stories as required reading for over 5 million public school students, a move that has reignited a fierce national debate over widening efforts across the U.S. to introduce more religion into classrooms.

The Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education is scheduled to cast a final vote on the proposal this Friday. This follows Texas's 2023 decision to become the largest state to require the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a measure that drew significant legal challenges.

The controversial plan faces strong opposition from critics who argue it violates the constitutional separation of church and state, unduly elevates Christianity's role in national history, and prioritizes it over other faiths. Conversely, supporters contend that Judeo-Christian traditions were fundamental to the nation’s founding and that this influence should be accurately reflected in public school curricula.

President Donald Trump has advocated for protecting and expanding religious expression in public schools nationwide. Texas, a deeply conservative state that educates approximately one in ten U.S. public school students, frequently sets precedents in such matters. In 2023, Texas became the first state to permit the hiring of chaplains for student counseling. Subsequently, the board narrowly approved an optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/texas-bible-stories-public-schools-donald-trump-mandate-b3002720.html

[hookaleft]

1. It is unconstitutional. Period

[tishaLA]

3. You think that's gonna stop this SCOTUS?

They'll savor the opportunity to overturn decades of precedent.

[Initech]

5. These psychos are so fucking weird.

No, we should not give up our rights to these fuckheads.

[TheRickles]

20. Centuries.

[ancianita]

6. Education, like elections, is left to the states according to the Tenth Amendment, which leaves the responsibility

of establishing, funding, and regulating public schools to individual states.

All states' curricula are decided by the public through their state boards of education.
If this is a state board of ed decision, it can stand constitutional scrutiny. But parents have recourse. If parents don't want their children exposed to bible texts, they have the right to have their children read other texts, and principals are bound to honor parents' wishes, since Bible readings are not revealed here to be core graduation requirements. If they are, parents could get alternative readings, even though state boards of educations have approved Bible texts.

Overall, the separation of church and state is an idea derived from the First Amendment (The actual phrase originated from a private letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. In it, he described the First Amendment as building a "wall of separation between Church & State" ), but his phrasing is not literally a written part of US founding documents.

It's not a done deal if a plaintiff with standing (maybe a teachers' statewide organization, or a statewide parents organization) files against the decision in the courts.

[Ilikepurple]

29. Although education is left to the states, the Establishment clause has been applied to the states by USSC since 1947

Through the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. I’m often surprised at the confidence people have in their understanding of Constitutional law and the moving target of Supreme Court precedent. Also, much Constitutional law isn’t found in US founding documents, including the 1st Amendment’s application to states. Like much Constitutional Law, we can thank or condemn the Supreme Court for its current state. Absolutely not determinative but the following is a USSC endorsement of Jefferson’s sentiment.

“Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups, and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect "a wall of separation between church and State." Reynolds v. United States, supra, at 98 U. S. 164.” Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947)

I’m not sure how this Court will ultimately decide this case if it ever has the case before it, but whether it can stand constitutional scrutiny is not settled law

[ancianita]

30. Thank you for the excellent legal information re separation of church and state.

Agree about Supreme Court precedent being a moving target for this USSC.

[jls4561]

2. I would recommend the story of Judith and Holofernes.

Holofernes is a local warlord who is about to pillage Judith’s village. Judith, sure the pillaging will also include raping, enters Holofernes’ tent, gets him drunk and cuts off his head, thus saving her village and her people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_beheading_Holofernes

It seems to me to be a good story for these troubled times. Of course, the beheading should be metaphorical.

[Ocelot II]

26. How about the Song of Solomon, which is quite racy?

https://omgcenter.com/2012/10/17/the-sultry-song-of-solomon/

[Initech]

4. Hey MAGA assholes! Our government is not your church! Do you get that?

[dickthegrouch]

7. Ask them to explain who 'begat' whom to create human #5

There were three guys and one woman. Where did the incest occur?
Was Cain destined to become an incel if Abel had lived?
Enquiring minds want to know.

[paleotn]

12. Questions I had as a kid that sowed the seeds apostasy later in life.

God found a way or stop asking questions / just have faith were not valid answers. So if that can't be true, what else isn't true? Pull one loose thread and the whole thing unravels.

[ColoringFool]

17. The "Others" Were From Outside Of Eden.

[ananda]

8. Irony is dead.

...

[Americanme]

9. Got to force kids to believe in the invisible man

before they are tainted by rational thought.

[paleotn]

10. Why don't they just secede again and get it over with.

Take the deep south and corn country with them and they can all go off and be Jebusland. Forced religion. A tiny plutocracy that owns everything. And poverty kids on every corner. You know, a real shit hole country. Maybe then the rest of us can have nice things.

[sakabatou]

11. Let's make a similar bill that would require the reading of other religion's books

[FullySupportDems]

13. You know, if they believed in the Golden Rule

As all good Christians should, you wouldn't want to force your religion on others. You wouldn't think it's right. These people don't believe in anything, but money.

Like Ice Tea said in his remake of Comfortably Numb, "If there is a god, we probably make him sick"

[travelingthrulife]

22. They believe in being right and forcing that belief onto everyone.

Control freaks.

[FullySupportDems]

24. Yup

Even when they're insincere and don't believe a word of what they say, they will still use that religion to get what they want.

[purr-rat beauty]

14. Uh...

So....OT? NT?

IF OT....assholes best not teach it in mixed fibers

[BadgerMom]

15. I taught English at the secondary level in California. I know how I'd respond to such lawlessness.

It would take me an afternoon to put together lesson plans that included readings from the Koran, the Torah and Talmud, the Vedas, the Book of Mormon…You get the picture. I know it would cause a ruckus. Deal with it, you small-minded assholes.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

16. Texas has squandered its brand to foolishness.

[J_William_Ryan]

18. "They'll savor the opportunity to overturn decades of precedent."

Correct.

This is a Court dominated by conservative ideologues long hostile to settled, accepted precedent – Establishment Clause jurisprudence in particular.

[Dr. T]

19. Would atheist kids have to read religious books?

What exactly are they trying to accomplish? Do they really think that religion will stop murder, rape, school shootings, and other crimes? How has that been working with the Ten Commandments in classrooms? My guess is that the crime rate needle hasn't budged at all.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

21. MaddowBlog-White House commission brushes off First Amendment, eyes 'bridge' between church and state

Trump’s religious liberty commission made the case for theocratic objectives, which was every bit as unsettling as it seemed.

Thomas Jefferson said the First Amendment created a “wall of separation of church and state.”

More than two centuries later, an official White House commission wants to replace the “wall” — with a theocracy-friendly “bridge.”
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-29T12:01:06.202Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-religious-liberty-commission-church-and-state

Around this time four years ago, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado condemned the separation of church and state as “junk.” As part of the same public comments, the far-right congresswoman added, “The church is supposed to direct the government.”....

Four years later, these theocratic attitudes have found a home in the White House. The Associated Press reported:

A new report by a Trump administration commission suggests replacing the idea of separating church and state with the idea of building bridges between them.

The assertion — challenging a longstanding concept in American law — comes amid a raft of recommendations in a draft report of the Religious Liberty Commission, released Friday afternoon.

Shortly after Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, he created this commission and filled it with conservative Christians aligned with the religious right movement. To the surprise of no one, it produced a 224-page draft report that endorsed a variety of goals, including more government promotion of religion, new laws to allow faith-based leaders to endorse politicians while maintaining their tax-exempt status, and allowing faith-based groups with government contracts to ignore civil rights laws while receiving taxpayer money.

In case this isn’t obvious, the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” According to Thomas Jefferson, those 16 words created a “wall of separation between church and state.”

Centuries later, Trump’s commission wants to replace the metaphor with a new one.

“The concept of a ‘wall of separation between church and state’ can wrongly imply that church and state are opposed to one another and must remain completely separate,” the panel’s members wrote in their report. “In reality, however, church and state strengthen and support one another. Perhaps a better analogy is that religious liberty acts as a bridge between church and state.”....

As a practical matter, it’s entirely possible that the commission’s recommendations were an elaborate chest-thumping exercise, which will have little if any impact on policymaking. But the fact that an official White House panel endorsed creating a “bridge” between church and state is an unsettling development, whether anything meaningful comes of its efforts or not.

This is scary. trump wants to break down the wall between the church and state

[travelingthrulife]

23. How to ensure kids hate a religion.Force them to read about it at school.

[Igel]

25. Houston Chronicle published a full list of readings.

Some of it's gonna hurt hard: Great Expectations?

Anthony Trollope is a strange choice, I'd think. Sort of nice to have the Mayflower Compact tossed in in 5th grade--I'm guessing some of the English readings align with the Social Studies curriculum. Even during my stint teaching, science was encouraged to provide readings for the corresponding ELA courses (tried it once, the teachers just stared--don't know what they wanted for juniors, physics was the junior grade science and it dealt with physics-relevant 'stuff'; then it turned out most never had physics and *they* couldn't understand it).

Anyway, the list:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2026/texas-schools-required-reading-list/?noapp=true&sid=&ss=P&st_rid=null

[cpamomfromtexas]

27. Judges 4. I hope they read that one

[wcmagumba]

28. What about the Teachings of the Buddha, the Hindus, Muhammad, the Zoroastrians The Flying Spaghetti Monster

and many other faiths?..

[karynnj]

31. The people behind this may then argue on which

translation and which parts to teach.