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People hold signs reading \u201cTeach the Truth\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t erase our history\u201d during a rally on the Capitol Mall outside the Barbara Jordan State Office Building, where the State Board of Education meets, in Austin, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. Parents, educators and community members gathered to oppose proposed changes to the state\u2019s social studies curriculum, known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, as the board considers revisions.<\/p>\n
Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
The Republican-led State Board of Education is weighing plans to weave Christianity into classroom instruction more directly<\/a> than ever before, asking teachers across nearly every grade level to teach and test students on a broad swath of Christian history and biblical figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n Conservative proponents of the overhaul<\/a> say the changes are designed to help students better understand how religion has shaped the country\u2019s culture and foundations. But experts say some of the lessons are at odds with the historical record or inflate the role of Christianity in major events.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we’re seeing in Texas is not homegrown history,\u201d said Brendan Gillis, a director at the American Historical Association and history professor at Lamar University. \u201cA lot of these formulations about bringing the Bible and Christianity into the curriculum are being drafted and circulated by national organizations that want to change how religion and religious history are taught.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The proposals are part of the board\u2019s overhaul of the state\u2019s social studies curriculum<\/a> and the creation of a first-of-its-kind mandatory reading list<\/a>. If given final approval at the end of\u00a0June, the standards would enter public schools in 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n Religion is already a component of social studies classes in Texas, but the focus is mostly on tracing the history of religious freedom in the United States and analyzing major world religions.<\/p>\n The new standards,\u00a0which the SBOE initially approved in April<\/a>, would require students to read more than a dozen passages directly from the Bible<\/a> and make connections between Christianity and major historical events, according to a Hearst Newspapers analysis of the proposals.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: Texas is overhauling what students will learn in social studies and history. Here’s what to know<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Building that understanding would begin as early as kindergarten, where students\u2019 lessons about the Pilgrims would now include that their motivation for coming to the U.S. was \u201cto advance the Christian faith.\u201d High school lessons would ask students to identify religious influences on the American banking and economic system.\u00a0<\/p>\n Historians and religious studies experts said Christianity has had major cultural impacts, but called several of the new aspects of the curriculum problematic.<\/p>\n The State Board of Education meeting room is pictured inside the William B. Travis Building in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n 2021 File Photo<\/p>\n In the third grade, the proposal calls for Texas students to identify the Bible\u2019s Abraham and Moses as historical figures, though scholars generally view them as legendary or mythical figures without direct archeological evidence of their existence. Presenting them as on par with Benjamin Franklin or George Washington could complicate students\u2019 historical reasoning skills, said Kate Cart\u00e9, a historian of early America at Southern Methodist University.\u00a0<\/p>\n In other cases, the standards leave out important context, the historians said. In the sixth grade, students would be required to learn about connections between Christianity and the abolitionist movement, but not that slave owners used the Bible to justify their position.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Second graders and high schoolers would learn about the so-called Black Robe Regiment, which the board proposal describes as a group of colonial pastors who preached about freedom and served in the revolutionary forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n READ MORE: Texas moves closer to mandating Bible readings in the state’s public schools<\/a><\/p>\n Cart\u00e9, who published a book about religion and the American Revolution, said the concept is \u201ccompletely bogus.\u201d There is no historical evidence to suggest the existence of any such group, and clergy at the time were profoundly split on whether to support the revolution, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s certainly not a term used by historians,\u201d Cart\u00e9 said. \u201cThey are making it up.\u201d<\/p>\n The term appears to have been popularized by David Barton<\/a>, an evangelical activist and former vice chair of the Texas Republican Party who served as an advisor on the board’s social studies overhaul<\/a>. It has been primarily used in some modern-day evangelical circles as a rallying cry for pastors to become politically involved, Gillis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Aasya Peera of Pflugerville holds a sign reading \u201cDon\u2019t teach our children lies!\u201d during a rally on the Capitol Mall outside the Barbara Jordan State Office Building, where the State Board of Education meets, in Austin, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. Parents, educators and community members gathered to oppose proposed changes to the state\u2019s social studies curriculum, known as Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, as the board considers revisions.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Barton did not respond to an interview request. His\u00a0WallBuilders organization, along with other conservative organizations, has argued against the separation between church and state, emphasizing that faith can and should be integrated into public institutions.<\/p>\n Mandy Drogin, a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the new standards are not about\u00a0proselytization.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one’s saying you have to worship anyone,\u201d she said. \u201cBut you do need at least to understand how we were founded.\u201d<\/p>\n The curriculum overhaul is part of a broader push by Republican state leaders to infuse religion into public schools. Last session, Gov. Greg Abbott signed new state laws that require public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms<\/a> and allow districts to create school-led prayer periods, which are voluntary.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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