<\/p>\n
State Board of Education member Julie Pickren prays during the invocation before a meeting on social studies standards at the Barbara Jordan Building in Austin on Friday, June 26, 2026. The board is considering revisions that would place greater emphasis on Christian history and biblical content in public school classrooms.<\/p>\n
Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Texas got a step closer to adopting high school social studies standards that tie Islam <\/a>to violence Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The State Board of Education<\/a> gave preliminary approval to new social studies learning standards, despite hours of testimony<\/a> from Muslim students, parents and advocates, who urged leaders to reconsider.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: Religion takes center stage, as vote to overhaul Texas social studies standards nears<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Almost every mention of Islam in the drafted curriculum connected it to slavery, conquest, or conflict, according to a review by The Dallas Morning News. An effort to include Muslim contributions to math and science previously failed.\u00a0<\/p>\n One learning standard, in particular, drew scrutiny from the public Monday \u2014 and heated debate among members Tuesday. It would require students to study Prophet Muhammad\u2019s \u201cbrutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rebecca Bell-Metereau, D-San Marcos, worried it was a \u201cprejudicial portrayal\u201d of Islam, pointing out that other religions in the curriculum did not similarly invoke sexual violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Board members considered changing the standard. Per a proposal, students would, instead, \u201cexplain the origins and early spread of Islam,\u201d the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, and the \u201crole of conquest in the growth of the early Islamic empire.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Andrea Hutchison, an adviser on the curriculum, said this approach would teach the religion in a more \u201caccurate and neutral\u201d way. But Brandon Hall,\u00a0R-Aledo, opposed the change, saying it\u2019s exactly what a \u201cforeign terrorist organization\u201d would want.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, has been an outspoken critic of the curriculum, calling it hateful and biased. Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR<\/a> as a terrorist group last year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is history. We\u2019re not teaching a religion course,\u201d Hall said. \u201cI do not support it.\u201d<\/p>\n The change failed to pass.\u00a0<\/p>\n By keeping the standard as is, the board greenlit the kind of hostile portrayal that Muslim Texans worry about. Those concerns played out during Monday\u2019s public comment when some speakers called Islam \u201cevil\u201d and warned of a \u201cShariah takeover.<\/a>“<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s clear that the effect of these standards is to make Muslim students feel inferior and not for Texas students to live in a diverse world,\u201d said Niloufar Hafizi of Emgage, a Muslim American civic organization, on Monday.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While some learning standards link Islam to violence, others ask students to examine the Bible\u2019s influence on historical events. That falls in line with a contested belief<\/a> that the United States was founded as a Christian nation \u2014 and builds upon the mandated Bible-infused reading list passed earlier this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n