AUSTIN, Texas (PNN) - November 23, 2024 - The Texas State Board of Education approved a measure Friday allowing lessons on the Bible to be taught in elementary schools.
The Texas State Board of Education narrowly approved the measure in an 8-7 vote, allowing schools to optionally implement Bible-based curriculum as soon as 2025, according to NBC News. Schools that choose to teach such lessons will receive additional funds from the state.
"The materials will allow our students to better understand the connection of history, art, community, literature and religion on pivotal events like the signing of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Movement and the American Revolution," Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement earlier this year, according to the Texas Tribune.
Texas Democrats bashed the school board's decision in a press release following the vote, saying the curriculum undermines "religious freedom" and that "religious doctrine should stay in our places of worship where it belongs."
Oklahoma in June began requiring Bible lessons be taught in all schools, and Louisiana mandated that all classrooms must display the Ten Commandments, though the law has faced legal challenges.
Ed. Note: Nowhere in the Constitution does it require a separation between church and state. That phrase comes from a private letter between Thomas Jefferson and the Danbury Baptist Church. It is not a constitutional prohibition, as Communists, Democrats and Leftists would like people to believe.