<\/p>\n

On June 26, 2026, the Texas State Board of Education approved a\u00a0required reading list<\/a>\u00a0for public schools, including selections from the Bible. The 9-5 vote, split along Republican and Democrat party lines, stems from\u00a0a 2023 state law<\/a>\u00a0that required Texas to create a list with at least one mandatory reading per grade level.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the board produced a list of more than 200 readings, which include\u00a0about a dozen biblical texts<\/a>. It also requires material from literary and public figures such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Martin Luther King Jr. and Margaret Thatcher.<\/p>\n

Critics argue<\/a>\u00a0that mandatory Bible readings in public schools violate the\u00a0First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution<\/a>, which bars the government from \u201can establishment of religion.\u201d These opponents maintain that the readings\u00a0impermissibly promote religion<\/a>, particularly Christianity, while violating the free exercise rights of students who belong to other religions, or none.<\/p>\n

Litigation over the use of the Bible in American public schools began over 150 years ago \u2013 with the outcome often depending on a lesson\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n

Courts, Bible and public schools<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The first reported case on the Bible in U.S. public schools was in 1872, when the Supreme Court of Ohio\u00a0affirmed a ban against religious instruction<\/a>\u00a0in public classrooms. Conversely, 50 years later, the Supreme Court of Georgia\u00a0upheld an ordinance<\/a>\u00a0to start school days with readings from the King James Version of the Bible.<\/p>\n

Bible reading first reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963, in School District of Abington Township v. Schempp. This case, from Pennsylvania,\u00a0was consolidated with a similar dispute from Maryland<\/a>, Murray v. Curlett.<\/p>\n

Opponents in both cases challenged mandatory Bible readings and prayer at the start of school days. The plaintiffs argued that these activities violated\u00a0the establishment clause<\/a>\u00a0of the First Amendment: that \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The justices\u00a0struck down both practices<\/a>, finding that they did not have a secular purpose and that their main effect was to advance religion.<\/p>\n

Attempting to allay concerns they were anti-religious, the justices declared, \u201cIt certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice William Brennan\u2019s concurrence added, \u201cThe holding of the Court today\u00a0plainly does not foreclose<\/a>\u00a0teaching about the Holy Scriptures or about the differences between religious sects in classes in literature or history.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the following decades, lower courts invalidated classes as violating the establishment clause if the subject matter promoted Christianity \u2013 teaching it as religious truth rather than discussing the Bible\u2019s literary and historical qualities. In 1981, for instance, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals banned\u00a0an elective Bible<\/a>\u00a0course in Alabama.<\/p>\n

Two years later, the\u00a08th Circuit<\/a>\u00a0summarily affirmed<\/a>\u00a0an order invalidating a program in Arkansas that allowed students\u00a0to take voluntary Bible classes during school hours<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1996, a federal trial court in Mississippi invalidated\u00a0Bible study classes<\/a>\u00a0taught in a rotation with music, physical education and library courses, plus another called A Biblical History of the Middle East.<\/p>\n

In these three cases, the courts agreed that the classes were unacceptable because they advanced Christianity.<\/p>\n

Lone Star State<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Returning to Texas, the board\u2019s new reading list\u00a0is far from inclusive<\/a>. Proposed passages mostly come from translations of the Bible that Protestant Christians use, as well as one from a Jewish publisher. The list does not include translations used by Catholics or sacred texts from non-Jewish and non-Christian faiths.<\/p>\n

Biblical texts on the list<\/a>\u00a0include a picture-book adaptation of the David and Goliath story for elementary students and passages about Adam and Eve for older students. The required readings also include excerpts from multiple books of the Bible \u2013 Jonah, Psalms, Lamentations and Genesis \u2013 for students in middle and high school.<\/p>\n

As of now,\u00a0parents who object<\/a>\u00a0to their kids reading these texts may opt their children out of specific readings if they conflict with their religious or moral beliefs.<\/p>\n

2 types of teaching<\/h4>\n

As Brennan noted in Abington, the Supreme Court \u201cplainly does not foreclose<\/a>\u00a0teaching about the Holy Scriptures or about the differences between religious sects in classes in literature or history.\u201d Still, there is a significant difference between\u00a0objectively teaching about<\/a>\u00a0religion and teaching of religion from a faith perspective.<\/p>\n

This difference has been important throughout my own career. For 36 years,\u00a0I have taught education law<\/a>\u00a0with a special interest in the relationships between religion, law and education. But in addition to my education and law degrees, I earned a master\u2019s of divinity degree. I previously taught religion, social studies and law to high school students, while teaching college theology part time.<\/p>\n

Teaching religion at two Catholic high schools before and after law school, my job was to inculcate Roman Catholic values in my students. Conversely, teaching theology to adult students, I emphasized 11th-century theologian Anselm of Canterbury\u2019s dictum that theology represents \u201cfaith seeking understanding<\/a>.\u201d In other words, my goal was to enable them to make their own judgments about whether to follow religious teachings.<\/p>\n

Many times, I have reasoned that increasing religious practices in public life is constitutional. My concern about Texas, though, is that the readings\u00a0fail to distinguish between teaching about and of religion<\/a>\u00a0in public schools by failing to discuss matters of faith objectively.<\/p>\n

Expanding students\u2019 horizons and advancing tolerance by exposing them to religious perspectives is a good intention. Yet the breadth of selections is hardly inclusive, given its focus primarily on Christianity, to the exclusion of other faiths. With 67% of adults in Texas\u00a0identifying as Christians<\/a>, 26% as unaffiliated and 6% belonging to other faiths, I believe the board could have developed a list that represents the state\u2019s religious variety.<\/p>\n

Implementation of the program will be staggered,\u00a0starting in elementary schools in 2030<\/a>, for\u00a0Texas\u2019 more than 5 million students<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 about 10% of the national total. I expect the Bible readings will face legal challenges, likely sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/strong>Charles J. Russo is the Joseph Panzer Chair in Education and Research Professor of Law at the University of Dayton<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 26, 2026, the Texas State Board of Education approved a\u00a0required reading list\u00a0for public schools, including selections from the Bible. The 9-5 vote, split along Republican and Democrat party lines, stems from\u00a0a 2023 state law\u00a0that required Texas to create a list with at least one mandatory reading per grade level. Ultimately, the board produced […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[10424],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-80664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-religion-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n