Red state launches 'unprecedented' attack on separation of church and state

Texas is poised to pass what the New York Times calls a “sweeping” new state book list, which will codify a batch of books that must be read by millions of students in the state’s public schools, including the Bible.

According to the Times, “The list was being debated by the Texas State Board of Education this week. It is expected to be approved on Friday. While the specific texts were still being edited and finalized, the list is expected to reflect the priorities of the state board, which has a 10-to-5 Republican majority.” The proposed list so far includes uncontroversial titles like Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, Night by Elie Wiesel, and Hamlet by William Shakespeare, but it will also require that students read at least one Bible excerpt each year, starting in the 4th grade. This has “spurred fierce debate.”

Texas education officials assert that the Bible “is an essential piece of literature and important for understanding America’s founding and culture.” Critics argue that mandating the Bible violates the separation of church and state “and is part of a broader effort to infuse Christianity in Texas public schools."

“The government of Texas, let alone any American government body, should never be in the business of imposing one religion on everyone,” said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has previously challenged a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms.

As the Times notes, it is so unusual for an entire state to mandate a reading list that it may be “unprecedented.” The list will shape the reading habits of a generation of Texas students, who represent 11 percent of the nation’s students, and is being created in response to a Texas law enacted in 2023 requiring education officials to select at least one essential literary text for each grade level. But the board went further, creating an extensive list from which teachers will be required to work. They will be allowed to assign books not on the list, but will need to find time to accommodate the additional reading by cutting back from other curricula.

In addition to including the Bible, the list has also been criticized “for putting an emphasis on older texts, often written by white and male authors, in a state where more than half of students are Hispanic or Black.”

“With a list that’s so extensive, would teachers have the time or space to choose texts that are a great fit for their students, their classrooms, their region?” said Markesha Tisby, president of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, which has argued for narrowing the list to allow teachers more choice. “Texas is extremely large and very diverse.”

The list does not include commonly taught titles like Romeo and Juliet, the Great Gatsby or To Kill a Mockingbird. It does, however, include The Children’s Book of Virtues, an anthology of stories edited by William J. Bennett, the Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan, as well as Margaret Thatcher’s eulogy for Reagan.