Texas Schools Add Bible Passages to Required Reading
Texas is putting Bible passages on its required public-school reading list, a win for religious conservatives and a fight for everyone who sees it as crossing the church-state line.
- The Texas Board of Education voted to require students to read Bible stories — Noah's Ark, Exodus, Adam and Eve — alongside classics and the Declaration of Independence, starting in 2030.
- It builds on last year's rule forcing schools to post the Ten Commandments, which a federal court upheld.
- The real fight is over control: the board says it sets the curriculum and teachers must teach what they're told, while opponents call it unconstitutional and a grab of teachers' freedom to pick their own books.
- Backers frame it as bringing morals and Judeo-Christian values back to schools; critics warn it forces religion on millions of kids.
Outlook: Expect court challenges before the 2030 rollout, with the Ten Commandments win suggesting Texas thinks it can survive them.