Texas’ 15-member State Board of Education on Friday approved a controversial updated social studies curriculum that Muslims say discriminates against them and that some advocates plan to work to overturn.
The new standards require students to learn how “radical Islam” was the motivation behind the 9/11 attacks, and lessons present Islam’s founder, Prophet Muhammad, as a combative and “brutal” warrior who spread the faith through violence and slavery.
A last-minute amendment to remove the word “brutal” in describing “military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes” failed.
Board member Brandon Hall said doing so “would be a grave mistake,” adding that he felt it a “moral imperative” to describe Muhammad’s actions that way.
“We’re whitewashing and watering down a part of history that I think is very consequential to understanding world events throughout history,” he said, “and understanding the context of one of what’s considered one of the major quote-unquote religions of today.”
Other lessons emphasize Christianity’s influence on Western society.
Islam is the world’s 2nd largest religion, with an estimated 2 billion followers; there are approximately 2.3 billion Christians globally, according to Population Education, which tracks such numbers.
Earlier in the week, Muslim public speakers, including Bahia Amawi, asked board members to include Islamic accomplishments in the updated curriculum.
“Uphold Islam to the same standard as other religions by teaching students its core principles and contributions,” she said. Remove standards that reduce Islam to violence and restore the board's own written standard about its contribution.”
The board had previously removed a proposed standard that would have taught students about "Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy. ” The process of redesigning the state’s social studies standards began last year.
Amawi asked the board whether the goal was to “teach students to distrust the Muslim classmates and neighbors."
The advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State said in a release the new standards “extol Christianity’s historical influence while treating Islam with hostility” and claim they violate the U.S. Constitution.
“The board should not be imposing a curriculum on students that favors one faith and disparages another,” President and CEO Rachel Laser said in the statement.
Earlier this year the board adopted new statewide required reading lists that include numerous Bible passages. Changes are set to go into effect during the 2030 school year.
The Muslim advocacy group CAIR, along with its Texas chapter, pledged Friday to work to "overturn" the social studies curriculum before then and "and protect teachers and students who refuse to teach it."
"No credible scholar of history validates the bigoted caricatures of Islam this curriculum teaches," the groups said in a statement. "Even the board's own appointed experts warned it doesn't hold up to historical scrutiny, yet the board voted against removing it."
The board on Friday also approved updated lessons for U.S. history, world geography, U.S. government and some elements of financial literacy.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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