“Making Bible Passages Cool Again” – Texas Schools Add Scripture To Required Reading

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Texas wants to make Bible passages cool again, okay? This is page 12 Good for Texas, okay, on what they wanna do.
So here we go. Texas Education Board votes to make Bible passages require reading. Is this the clip that you have there if you wanna play it? Go for it, go ahead.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:20)
Millions of public school students in Texas will soon be required to read Bible passages along with classic works of literature and historic documents like the Declaration of Independence. The new reading list, approved by the Texas State Board of Education, is set to begin in 2030 and also includes Bible stories and picture books like Noah's Ark and the stories of Exodus and Adam and Eve for older students. It follows last year's required posting of the Ten Commandments, a move recently upheld in federal court.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:50)
The Education Board, which is controlled by Republicans, voted to pass a new required reading list on Friday. Both 9 to 5 to 1 The list for required literature includes sections of the book Exodus for fifth graders, Shepherd Palm, a psalm for seventh graders and more. Board discussions about the required reading list took place on Friday morning and touched on issues related to the implementation timeline.
And question of teachers' autonomy and deciding which works should be required reading, and they added a couple other things to it. Approve required reading list including EB. White, Shel Silverstein, ASOP, Kurt Vonnegut and a few other names. So Tom, why is this a big deal? Why is it a big story?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:28)
Well, this is a big deal because something you just read in there is what was hiding. So teachers most of the time in public schools, I don't know the percent nationwide, are in unions. And the unions are there because they're, hey, we're going to get you a better wage, we're going to get you benefits, we're going to get you, you know, better pension and all that. And so what you just read hiding in there, Pat, teachers autonomy. The unions want teachers to have autonomy so they could rebel and they can inject things they want to. The school board is saying, no, we will set the curriculum. You as an employee, unionized or not, your job is to teach what we select. You work for us. You're not a political activist in the classroom. That is the stance of Texas. And Texas, last year, pushed it all the way to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on the Ten Commandments. As of September of last year, to start the school year, last year, 2025, so we're getting close to it, that report correctly pointed out that the Ten Commandments are there. Because guess what?
Teachers unions and teachers looked at the Ten Commandments and they said, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. There's really two parts of Ten Commandments. One part says, you won't commit adultery, steal, covet, lie or kill. Hmm, there's a bunch of things in there that are probably pretty good for citizens not to do. And then, wait, the one in the middle is honor your mother and father. Wait a minute, what's so religious or upsetting about honor your mom and dad? Don't kill, don't skill, don't lie.
And then, of course, there's no other god before me. Don't make any idols, don't use my name in vain and keep the Sabbath, which is they viewed that as basically Jewish history because it was the Book of Exodus when Moses came off Mount Sinai. And remember, when Moses came off Mount Sinai, I remember what he said, I got the guy down to 10, but adultery is still in there.
So in Texas, they got that on the wall because they recognize half of the Ten Commandments really was about good citizenry.
Now they're coming out and saying there are some stories and there's some other things which we think are also historically relevant and culturally appropriate to build a strong God.

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**SPEAKER_1** (4:03)
I want to read this because it's important, two different sides on what they say. Julie Pickren, a Republican member of the Texas Education Board set the following to the Tribune, said, when students engage directly with original writing, speech, or sermons and foundational texts, they can evaluate ideas and develop a deeper understanding of the principles that have shaped the USA and the Texas. Okay, great. Now, the complete opposite board member, Evelyn Brooks, was outspoken about this during the hearing and she said this is unconstitutional. She said teachers need to have their autonomy, the word you just used, Tom. They've been selecting books for decades, for years. This is nothing new. This is not a new concept to teachers. We are simply giving them a mandated list, which I believe is unconstitutional, but regardless of what I believe in, let's not take their autonomy away.