Religion is back in our country, bigger and stronger than ever
In a 9-5 vote, the Texas State Board of Education has mandated that all five million public school students read selected Bible passages beginning in 2030, placing ancient scripture alongside Shakespeare and Dickens on the state's first-ever universal required reading list. The decision arrives not as a quiet administrative adjustment but as a deliberate act of cultural reclamation — one that reopens the oldest American argument about where the sacred ends and the civic begins. Supporters see a restoration of foundational tradition; critics see a state lending its authority to one faith above all others. The four years before implementation may prove to be less a grace period than a gathering storm.
- A 9-5 board vote has made Texas the first state to require Bible passages — Adam and Eve, Moses and the burning bush, the Prodigal Son — as mandatory reading for every public school student, a decision with no precedent in modern American education.
- Civil liberties organizations and education advocates warn the mandate privileges Christianity over all other faiths and cultures, leaving millions of students from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds to encounter a curriculum that does not reflect their own traditions or histories.
- Teachers are sounding alarms not only about constitutional principle but about classroom reality — the required list is seen as too long, too rigid, and corrosive to the professional judgment educators rely on to match materials to their students.
- The move follows Texas already becoming the nation's largest state to mandate Ten Commandments displays in classrooms, signaling a sustained and escalating conservative effort to reintroduce religious content into public education.
- With implementation set for 2030, legal challenges are already being prepared, and the courts will ultimately be asked to decide whether a state can constitutionally require religious scripture as core curriculum — a question that could reshape American education far beyond Texas.
Texas education officials have voted to require all five million of the state's public school students to read Bible passages beginning in 2030 — a first-of-its-kind mandate that has reignited one of America's most enduring debates about religion and public life. The State Board of Education approved the measure 9-5, with one Republican joining Democrats in dissent. The required texts include Old Testament stories of Adam and Eve and Moses at the burning bush, New Testament passages about Jesus, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son — placed on the same list as Great Expectations, Julius Caesar, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s final speech. It is the first time Texas has ever established a universal statewide reading list.
Supporters framed the vote as a restoration, with board member Brandon Hall declaring that the Bible was being brought back to schools "for the first time in 60 years." Conservative backers argue that Judeo-Christian tradition is inseparable from the nation's founding and that students deserve to understand it. But critics see something more troubling: a state curriculum that elevates one faith above all others while erasing the contributions of Black, Indigenous, and non-Western peoples and traditions.
Teachers have raised their own concerns, warning that the list is unwieldy even after last-minute trimming, and that mandating specific texts strips educators of the professional discretion they need to serve their particular students well. The move follows Texas requiring Ten Commandments displays in classrooms last year — a mandate upheld by a federal appeals court — and fits a broader pattern that President Trump has publicly celebrated as the return of religion to American public life.
With four years before the curriculum takes effect, opponents are already preparing legal challenges. Whether a state may constitutionally require religious scripture as core reading for all students is a question that will almost certainly be settled not in a boardroom, but in court.
Texas education officials have voted to require all five million public school students in the state to read Bible passages starting in 2030, a decision that has reignited longstanding arguments about where religion belongs in public classrooms.
The State Board of Education approved the measure on a 9-5 vote, with one Republican breaking ranks to join Democrats in opposition. The mandatory readings will include passages from the Old Testament—the story of Adam and Eve, and selections from Exodus featuring God's communication with Moses through a burning bush—alongside New Testament material about Jesus and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. These texts will sit on the same required reading list as English literature classics: Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountain Top" speech, and Margaret Thatcher's eulogy for Ronald Reagan. This marks the first time Texas has established a statewide list of books that all students must read.
Board member Brandon Hall, a Republican, framed the decision as a restoration. "We are bringing the Bible back into schools this week for the first time in 60 years," he said. Supporters of the mandate argue that students need to understand the Judeo-Christian traditions they contend were foundational to the nation's founding. But the religious component has drawn sharp criticism from education advocates and civil liberties organizations who see it as a violation of the principle separating church and state.
Felicia Martin, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network, objected that the reading list "centres Christianity above all other religious faiths and traditions" and reflects "a very Western-centric view of the world that omits the contributions and the histories of black, brown, indigenous people, of other religious faiths and traditions that are critical to the overall understanding of our history." The concern about diversity extends beyond representation: critics argue the mandate fails to include texts from other major world religions, leaving students with an incomplete picture of human belief and culture.
Teachers themselves have raised practical objections. Clare Haefner of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association told the BBC that educators worry about both the sheer length of the required list and what they see as an erosion of their professional judgment. Even after the board trimmed the list before final approval, the association maintains it remains unwieldy and constrains teachers' ability to select materials suited to their specific students and classrooms.
This decision is not an isolated shift in Texas education policy. Last year, the state became the largest in the nation to require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments—biblical laws that Christians believe God established for humanity. A federal appeals court upheld that mandate after a legal challenge, clearing the way for implementation. The Bible reading requirement represents the next step in what conservative leaders see as a broader reclamation of religious expression in American schools. President Donald Trump, speaking at a religious freedom event in Washington, credited his administration with this movement. "Religion is back in our country, bigger and stronger than it has been in many, many years," he said.
The four-year gap before the curriculum takes effect gives opponents time to mount legal challenges, and education groups are already signaling they intend to fight. The fundamental question—whether public schools can mandate religious texts as part of their core curriculum without violating the constitutional separation of church and state—will likely end up in court.
Citas Notables
We are bringing the Bible back into schools this week for the first time in 60 years— Brandon Hall, Republican member of the Texas State Board of Education
The reading list centres Christianity above all other religious faiths and traditions and reflects a very Western-centric view of the world that omits the contributions and histories of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people— Felicia Martin, executive director of Texas Freedom Network
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Texas need to mandate these particular texts? Couldn't schools already teach the Bible if they wanted to?
They could, in theory. But this is different—it's saying every student, everywhere in Texas, must read these passages. It's not optional, not elective. That's the shift.
And the concern is that it privileges Christianity over other faiths?
Exactly. If you're a Muslim student or a Hindu student or an atheist student, you're still required to read these texts. The state is essentially saying this is essential knowledge, which some see as the state endorsing a particular religious worldview.
But supporters would say the Bible is culturally important, not just religiously important.
That's their argument, yes. And there's something to it—the Bible has shaped literature, law, philosophy. But the question is whether that cultural importance requires a mandate, or whether it can be taught in context without being required of everyone.
What about the teachers? Why are they upset?
They're losing discretion. A teacher might think a particular passage isn't age-appropriate for third graders, or that a different text would work better for their students. Now they can't make that call. The state has decided for them.
Is this likely to survive a legal challenge?
That's the real question. The courts have been inconsistent on this. The Ten Commandments display law survived, but that's different from requiring students to read religious texts. We'll probably see this in federal court within a few years.