{"id":464954,"date":"2026-10-13T18:24:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/464954\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T18:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T18:24:26","slug":"ut-austin-to-host-event-on-the-bible-and-the-american-founders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/464954\/","title":{"rendered":"UT Austin to Host Event on \u2018The Bible and the American Founders\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An upcoming lecture at the University of Texas at Austin will explore Biblical influences on the American founders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[T]he Bible was the most accessible and authoritative text in eighteenth-century America, and it was the most referenced work in the political literature of the era,\u201d reads <a href=\"https:\/\/civicleadership.utexas.edu\/events\/the-bible-and-the-american-founders-a-lecture-with-dr-daniel-dreisbach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">the event\u2019s invitation page<\/a>. \u201cMany in the founding generation appealed to the sacred text for principles, precedents, and normative standards to govern their polities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey looked to the Bible for insights into human nature, civic virtue, political authority, the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and other concepts essential to the establishment of a well-ordered political society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The university\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/civicleadership.utexas.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">School of Civic Leadership<\/a>, in conjunction with the UT-Austin <a href=\"https:\/\/liberalarts.utexas.edu\/mes\/center-for-middle-eastern-studies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Center for Middle Eastern Studies<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/law.utexas.edu\/first-amendment-center\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center<\/a> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/law.utexas.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">UT School of Law<\/a>, will host the lecture.<\/p>\n<p>The School of Civic Leadership, an effort to expand classical education, was originally conceived by Lt. Gov. <a class=\"cd-autolink\" href=\"https:\/\/texasscorecard.com\/directory\/officials\/dan-patrick\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Patrick<\/a>. Patrick first proposed it in 2021 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kxan.com\/news\/texas-politics\/lt-gov-dan-patrick-proposes-ending-tenure-over-critical-race-theory-battle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">included seed funding<\/a> in the state budget. From the beginning, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.austinmonthly.com\/8-things-to-know-about-dan-patricks-liberty-institute\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">engendered significant pushback<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It <a href=\"https:\/\/civicleadership.utexas.edu\/timeline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">opened in 2023<\/a> and has <a href=\"https:\/\/texasscorecard.com\/local\/uts-civitas-institute-hosts-discussion-on-how-america-became-family-unfriendly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">hosted events<\/a> ever since. In 2025, UT System Regents <a href=\"https:\/\/texasscorecard.com\/state\/ut-austin-officials-announce-100m-investment-in-classical-and-civic-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">committed $100 million<\/a> to the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiblical literacy, the language of the Bible in public rhetoric, and a shared sense of higher moral order were part of the cultural soil in which the principles of equality and consent could take root,\u201d Thomas Lindsay, the higher education director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told Texas Scorecard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Dreisbach\u2019s project is a useful corrective to secularist distortions of the Founding and is evidence that American democracy presupposes moral and religious supports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UT Austin is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utsystem.edu\/institutions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">component<\/a> of the University of Texas System. The UT System is overseen by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utsystem.edu\/offices\/board-of-regents\/board-office\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Board of Regents<\/a> that is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.utsystem.edu\/board-of-regents\/current-regents\/kevin-p-eltife\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Kevin Eltife<\/a> of Tyler is the current board chair.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791915866_704_Adam-Writer-Final-150x150.jpg\" class=\"avatar avatar-150 photo\" height=\"150\" width=\"150\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>                <\/p>\n<p>\n                        Adam Cahn is a journalist with Texas Scorecard. A longtime political blogger, Adam is passionate about shedding light on taxpayer-subsidized higher education institutions.                    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An upcoming lecture at the University of Texas at Austin will explore Biblical influences on the American founders.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,289],"class_list":["post-464954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-higher-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464954","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=464954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}