The Conversation US haberine göre Texas approves mandatory Bible readings in public schools, reigniting a century-long debate.

Texas' new list of required readings for public schools, which includes biblical stories and excerpts, will begin to take effect in 2030. AP Photo/David Goldman On June 26, 2026, the Texas State Board of Education approved a required reading list for public schools, including selections from the Bible. The 9-5-1 vote, mostly split along Republican and Democrat party lines, stems from a 2023 state law that required Texas to create a list with at least one mandatory reading per grade level.

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

S. ” These opponents maintain that the readings impermissibly promote religion , particularly Christianity, while violating the free exercise rights of students who belong to other religions, or none. Litigation over the use of the Bible in American public schools began over 150 years ago – with the outcome often depending on a lesson’s purpose.

S. public schools was in 1872, when the Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed a ban against religious instruction in public classrooms. Conversely, 50 years later, the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld an ordinance to start school days with readings from the King James Version of the Bible.

Students in San Antonio, Texas, pray in 1962. S. Supreme Court in 1963, in School District of Abington Township v.

Schempp. This case, from Pennsylvania, was consolidated with a similar dispute from Maryland , Murray v. Curlett.

Opponents in both cases challenged mandatory Bible readings and prayer at the start of school days. ” The justices struck down both practices , finding that they did not have a secular purpose and that their main effect was to advance religion. Attempting to allay concerns they were anti-religious, the justices declared, “It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities.

” In the following decades, lower courts invalidated classes as violating the establishment clause if the subject matter promoted Christianity – teaching it as religious truth rather than discussing the Bible’s literary and historical qualities. S. Circuit Court of Appeals banned an elective Bible course in Alabama.

Two years later, the 8th Circuit summarily affirmed an order invalidating a program in Arkansas that allowed students to take voluntary Bible classes during school hours . In 1996, a federal trial court in Mississippi invalidated Bible study classes taught in a rotation with music, physical education and library courses, plus another called A Biblical History of the Middle East. In these three cases, the courts agreed that the classes were unacceptable because they advanced Christianity.

Lone Star State Returning to Texas, the board’s new reading list is far from inclusive . 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.

Students work under Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights posters in a classroom at Lehman High School in Kyle, Texas, on Oct. 16, 2025. AP Photo/Eric Gay Biblical texts on the list include 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 – Jonah, Psalms, Lamentations and Genesis – for students in middle and high school. As of now, parents who object to their kids reading these texts may opt their children out of specific readings if they conflict with their religious or moral beliefs. ” Still, there is a significant difference between objectively teaching about religion and teaching of religion from a faith perspective.

This difference has been important throughout my own career. For 36 years, I have taught education law with a special interest in the relationships between religion, law and education. But in addition to my education and law degrees, I earned a master’s of divinity degree.

I previously taught religion, social studies and law to high school students, while teaching college theology part time. Teaching religion at two Catholic high schools before and after law school, my job was to inculcate Roman Catholic values in my students. ” In other words, my goal was to enable them to make their own judgments about whether to follow religious teachings.

Many times, I have reasoned that increasing religious practices in public life is constitutional. My concern about Texas, though, is that the readings fail to distinguish between teaching about and of religion in public schools by failing to discuss matters of faith objectively. Expanding students’ 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 identifying as Christians , 26% as unaffiliated and 6% belonging to other faiths, I believe the board could have developed a list that represents the state’s religious variety. Implementation of the program will be staggered, starting in elementary schools in 2030 , for Texas’ more than 5 million students – about 10% of the national total.

I expect the Bible readings will face legal challenges, likely sooner rather than later. This is an updated version of an article originally published on April 27, 2026. This article has been updated to clarify that the Board of Education vote was largely along party lines.

Charles J. Russo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.