(Headline USA) Texas’ education board voted Friday to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools under optional new curriculum.
The material adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, passed in an 8-7 final vote.
Supporters argued the Bible is a core feature of American history and that teaching it will enrich lessons.
The vote allows schools in Texas, which has more than 5 million public school students, to begin using the material in kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms as early as next year.
Republican lawmakers celebrated the vote, including Texas’ powerful lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who has pledged to pass legislation next year that would follow Louisiana in trying to require schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
In a statement, Gov. Greg Abbott called the vote “a critical step forward to bring students back to the basics of education and provide the best education in the nation.”
Schools are not required to use the material, but those that do would receive extra funding from the state.
In the newly approved kindergarten materials, one lesson on helping one’s neighbor instructs teachers to talk about the Golden Rule using lessons from the Bible. It also instructs the teachers to explain that the Bible is “a collection of ancient texts” and that its different parts are “the core books of the Jewish and Christian religions.”
In a third-grade lesson about the first Thanksgiving, the material directs teachers to discuss how the governor of Plymouth said a prayer and gave a speech that included references to “several passages from the Christian Bible in the book of Psalms.” Teachers are then instructed to tell students the book of Psalms is a collection of songs, poems and hymns “that are used in both Jewish and Christian worship.”
With the new curriculum, Texas would be the first state to introduce Bible lessons in schools in this manner, according to Matthew Patrick Shaw, an assistant professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
