This school year, thousands of elementary students across Texas are opening English workbooks that read more like Sunday school materials than standard public school lessons. A newly adopted, state-sponsored curriculum—based on the popular Amplify reading program but heavily revised—now features extensive references to the Bible, the life of Jesus, and Christian theology, sparking national debate over the separation of church and state.
What’s Changed in the Texas Curriculum?
According to a New York Times analysis of thousands of pages of teaching guides and student activity books, the Texas-adapted curriculum dramatically amplifies Christian content compared to the original version. While the national Amplify program mentions Jesus 19 times in its elementary units, the Texas version references him 87 times.
New lessons include in-depth studies of biblical figures like King Solomon and Queen Esther, detailed explorations of Genesis and the Last Supper, and even a rewritten colonial history that frames Christian missionaries as merely “introducing” Native peoples to Christianity—replacing the original word “convert.”
Christianity Front and Center
The emphasis on Christianity far outweighs coverage of other world religions. In second-grade materials alone, Christianity and the Bible appear roughly 110 times. In contrast, Islam, the Quran, and the Prophet Muhammad are mentioned only about 31 times across all grades from kindergarten through fifth.
Notably, Texas removed an entire first-grade unit from the original curriculum that taught students about the shared roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—including the significance of Mecca and the Five Pillars of Islam.
Key Additions in the Texas Curriculum
- Kindergarten: Art lessons centered on the Genesis creation story.
- First Grade: Parable of the Prodigal Son taught alongside Aesop’s fables.
- Fifth Grade: Five new paragraphs on the Last Supper and communion.
- All Grades: Increased focus on Christian opposition to slavery and Abraham Lincoln’s faith.
State Officials Defend the Changes
Texas education leaders insist the curriculum doesn’t constitute religious instruction but instead provides “historical and literary context.” Jake Kobersky, a spokesman for the Texas Education Agency, stated: “These references create a strong background of knowledge for students with rich texts to further their understanding of our society, including our history, economy and culture.”
Scholars Raise Red Flags
Religious studies experts disagree. “This amounts to Bible study in a public school curriculum,” said David R. Brockman, a Christian theologian at Rice University. He warned that the material sends an implicit message that “Christianity is the only important religion.”
Historians also note omissions that skew historical understanding. For example, while the curriculum highlights Christians who opposed slavery, it omits how others used the same Bible to justify it. Similarly, a new lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” strips out references to “white” and “Negro,” softening its confrontation with systemic racism.
| Grade Level | Original Amplify (Jesus Mentions) | Texas Version (Jesus Mentions) |
|---|---|---|
| K–5 Total | 19 | 87 |
| Islam References (K–5) | ~45 | ~31 |
A National Blueprint?
With over 300 Texas school districts—many rural and small—adopting the curriculum this year, and financial incentives encouraging wider use, education watchers fear this could become a model for other conservative states. As Louisiana and Oklahoma push to bring the Ten Commandments and prayer into classrooms, Texas’s approach offers a subtler but more systemic integration of faith into core academics.
For now, the debate continues—not just in courtrooms, but in parent-teacher meetings, school board hearings, and living rooms across a deeply divided state.
