{"id":427705,"date":"2026-09-06T03:17:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/427705\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T03:17:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T03:17:02","slug":"texas-history-standards-cover-islam-and-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/427705\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas History Standards Cover Islam And Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas high-school history lessons will address Mohammed\u2019s military campaigns and Islamic conquest alongside Christianity\u2019s influence on Western civilization and America under a standards overhaul<\/a> approved September 4.<\/p>\n

The State Board of Education voted 8-4<\/a> to approve the changes, the Houston Chronicle reported. The package covers U.S. History, U.S. Government, World History and World Geography.<\/p>\n

All four posted course sections specify<\/a> classroom implementation in 2033-2034, replacing 2030-2031. That school-year requirement is distinct from the rules\u2019 administrative effective date.<\/p>\n

Board Member Brandon Hall (R-Fort Worth) defended retaining the word \u201cbrutal\u201d in a lesson on Mohammed\u2019s campaigns after Board Member Will Hickman (R-Houston) sought<\/a> its removal. That amendment failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re whitewashing and watering down a part of history,\u201d Hall said during the debate<\/a>, KERA reported.<\/p>\n

Conquest, Jihad And Slavery<\/p>\n

The official committee-approved text<\/a> presented for Friday\u2019s vote describes Mohammed\u2019s \u201cbrutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes\u201d and addresses slavery and the taking of female captives as \u201charem slaves.\u201d A separate expectation connects jihad with Islamic expansion and the \u201cconquest of Christian lands,\u201d naming Jerusalem, Syria and Egypt.<\/p>\n

Those expectations sit in a World History unit covering A.D. 476-1000. The posted<\/a> language specifies a military-expansion context for jihad; it does not require a separate explanation of spiritual interpretations.<\/p>\n

Other sections cover<\/a> Muslim and Viking slave raiding, Ottoman expansion, the capture of Constantinople and conversion of Hagia Sophia, the Mughal Empire, and the Barbary and Atlantic slave trades. Christianity\u2019s history also includes the Crusades, the Reconquista and wars between Catholics and Protestants.<\/p>\n

A separate World History expectation addresses<\/a> the rise of radical Islam and specifically lists the Muslim Brotherhood, terrorism, Al Qaeda, the September 11 attacks and ISIS. The modern U.S. History section identifies radical Islam as the motivation for the attacks and addresses the American response. These modern-history expectations are separate from the early-Islam unit.<\/p>\n

Christianity And America\u2019s Foundations<\/p>\n

The posted World History standards<\/a> explicitly connect Christianity to Western civilization and early America. Topics include Jesus, Christianity\u2019s Jewish origins, biblical moral teaching, Christian persecution under Rome, religious institutions and human dignity. Another expectation connects William Wilberforce\u2019s Christian faith to his opposition to the slave trade.<\/p>\n

The American-history provisions<\/a> name the Bible, Greek and Roman thought, English common law and the First Great Awakening among influences on the Revolution and the new government. They also address religious motives for colonial settlement, the Second Great Awakening\u2019s role in reform, and biblical imagery in Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech.<\/p>\n

The government text connects<\/a> religion with civic virtue, limited government and liberty. Students would examine John Adams\u2019 statement about a moral and religious people and the Declaration of Independence\u2019s account of God-given rights. Families, religious institutions and voluntary associations also appear in its treatment of self-government.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s approval also included instruction on William Blackstone\u2019s view that human law should conform to natural and divine law, the Houston Chronicle reported. Board Member Tom Maynard\u2019s (R-Florence) submitted<\/a> amendment specifically identifies the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament.<\/p>\n

Religious liberty remains part of the record. The posted government standards<\/a> cover freedom of conscience, freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment. U.S. History addresses First Amendment protections in public schools through Abington School District v. Schempp.<\/p>\n

CAIR Objects; Supporters Defend The History<\/p>\n

CAIR-Texas and CAIR Action Texas vowed Friday to seek reversal. Their joint statement<\/a> called the portrayal of Islam \u201cbigoted caricatures\u201d and argued that the standards disparage one religion while favoring another. They also pledged support for teachers and students who refuse the material.<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) designated national CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations under Texas law in November 2025. His proclamation did not specifically name individual Texas CAIR chapters, a distinction previously reported<\/a> by The Dallas Express. CAIR disputes the state\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

The criticism extends to historical terminology. SBOE content adviser Andrea Hutchison argued that describing seventh-century captives with a later Ottoman institutional term was misleading. Her recommendation still included<\/a> early Islamic military expansion and conquest, while adding Islamic Golden Age contributions to mathematics, medicine and astronomy.<\/p>\n

The posted geography text requires<\/a> central ideas of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Confucianism and Daoism, and separately identifies Sunni and Shia traditions. Thus, its treatment of Islam is not limited to warfare. That does not resolve opponents\u2019 objection to the emphasis in World History.<\/p>\n

Supporters argue that understanding America requires teaching its religious and historical foundations. \u201cIf we want students to understand our American story, we have to stop cutting chapters out of the book,\u201d Mary Elizabeth Castle, Texas Values\u2019 director of government relations, said in a Friday statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What Comes Next<\/p>\n

The board adopted K-8 standards and a separate required reading list in June but postponed final action on these four high-school courses, as The Dallas Express previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The agenda proposed<\/a> a separate administrative effective date 20 days after filing with the Texas Register, subject to a two-thirds board vote. The exact effective date and a consolidated post-Friday rule text could not be confirmed for this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas high-school history lessons will address Mohammed\u2019s military campaigns and Islamic conquest alongside Christianity\u2019s influence on Western civilization…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[148693,148694,102,104,103,148695,148696,148697],"class_list":["post-427705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-cair-texas-sboe","tag-christianity-western-civilization-standards","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-islamic-conquest-texas-schools","tag-mohammed-military-campaigns-curriculum","tag-texas-state-board-of-education-history-standards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}