{"id":2344,"date":"2026-06-27T12:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2344"},"modified":"2026-06-27T12:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:36:24","slug":"texas-unleashes-sleeping-giant-as-conservatives-face-reckoning-over-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2344","title":{"rendered":"Texas unleashes sleeping giant as conservatives face reckoning over ‘truth’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As education officials in Texas ban hundreds of books that run afoul of their interpretation of Christian morality, the State Board of Education on Friday approved a required reading list that forces the state\u2019s more than 5 million public school students to read from the Bible.<\/p>\n

Read more Inside the real reason Republicans are finally telling Trump to pound sand<\/a><\/p>\n

The Republican-controlled SBOE voted 9-5 with one abstention to approve the list, which includes passages from the Book of Exodus as well as the Shepherd\u2019s Psalm and the myths of Adam and Eve and David and Goliath.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to stop watering down American history. We\u2019re going to teach the truth. Our nation was founded as a Christian nation, and Texas is a Christian state,\u201d Republican board member Brandon Hall\u2014who is also a youth pastor at Cavalry Baptist Church in Springtown\u2014said during a Thursday press conference in Austin.<\/p>\n

That \u201ctruth\u201d omits or marginalizes climate change, US imperialism, women\u2019s history, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, slavery, and racism.<\/p>\n

Evelyn Brooks, the only Republican SBOE member to vote against the required reading list, told CNN on Friday that she believes the board\u2019s move is \u201cunconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers need to have their autonomy,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been selecting books for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, Texas\u2019 Republican-controlled Legislature passed HB 1605, which mandated the creation of a K-12 required reading list and directed the Texas Education Agency to develop state-owned textbooks. Those texts, called Bluebonnet Learning, contain lessons on Christianity starting in kindergarten. The SBOE approved Bluebonnet Learning as an optional curriculum in late 2024 and is currently working to correct thousands of errors in the curriculum at a cost of over $8 million to Texas taxpayers.<\/p>\n

The SBOE action comes amid a legal battle over , a law signed last year by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that requires public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. US District Judge Fred Biery, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, subsequently issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law. Texas families also sued to block the legislation. However, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton\u2014who is running for US Senate\u2014demanded that schools comply with the law.<\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court may have set a trap for conservative Christians that could backfire<\/a><\/p>\n

Public schools \u201cexist to educate students with diverse faith backgrounds, as well as those who adhere to no faith doctrine,\u201d the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) said Friday. \u201cPublic schools are not Sunday schools, and elected officials have no business using state power to elevate one religion above all others. A required reading list that overwhelmingly favors Christian texts while excluding the writings and literary traditions of other faiths, not to mention the perspectives of millions of nonreligious Americans, sends an unmistakable message about who belongs and who does not.\u201d<\/p>\n

FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor asserted that \u201ca mandatory public school reading list should never function as a Bible lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas is telling millions of children that one religion deserves the government\u2019s seal of approval, while everyone else is an afterthought,\u201d she added. \u201cThat\u2019s government-sponsored religious favoritism\u2014and the First Amendment strictly forbids it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Joshua Fixler at Congregation Emanu El in Houston told CNN Friday that \u201cthis list is full of Christian texts that are inappropriate for public school classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a rabbi and a parent of Jewish kids, I think it is vital that this board make a distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion,\u201d he added. \u201cThis list will force teachers to cross that line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fort Worth high school teacher Chanea Bond told The Associated Press on Friday that the SBOE\u2019s required reading list is \u201cvery old and very white.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very narrow and does not represent what classrooms in Texas look like,\u201d she said. \u201cGoing through most of high school without ever having much value put into voices that sound like yours kind of sends a message that your voices aren\u2019t valuable.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more Epstein is trampling the future of the GOP: report<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As education officials in Texas ban hundreds of books that run afoul of their interpretation of Christian morality, the State Board of Education on Friday approved a required reading list that forces the state\u2019s more than 5 million public school students to read from the Bible.The Republican-control…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTexas unleashes sleeping giant as conservatives face reckoning over 'truth' - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2344\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas unleashes sleeping giant as conservatives face reckoning over 'truth' - 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