Texas just made it mandatory for all public schools to teach the Bible. Your school district could be next

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

This is an excerpt from Beatitudes, eight blessings that, according to The Bible, were recounted by Jesus.

It’s also now mandatory reading for Texas state schools after its board of education controversially voted last month to require Bible stories to be taught from kindergarten through to the final year of high school.

It could have implications nationally too. As the second-largest buyer of textbooks in the U.S., Texas holds outsized influence over what school book publishers produce. If companies want a share of the state’s massive education budget, they often tailor their materials to meet Texas’s demands. And that influence extends far beyond its own borders as other states, encouraged by religious advocacy groups, take note and push similar policies.

The result is a growing challenge to the separation of church and state, a foundational principle of the U.S. Constitution.

The new Texas curriculum, passed by a Republican-led board by a 9-4 vote along party lines, will see students as young as six hear Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Noah’s Ark, and David and Goliath, taught in English classes.

In a statement, Rachel Laser, President and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the votes were “yet another example of Texas politicians pushing Christianity on … schoolchildren.” She said state schools should not force children to read Bible stories and that the policies represented a broader movement to impose one narrow set of religious beliefs “and indoctrinate a new generation of Americans in the lie that America is a Christian country.”

Laser’s warning is clear: This isn’t just a Texas problem. In an email to The Independent, she said “Religious extremists in other states love to copy Texas. In the years after Texas started pushing for every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments, inviting public schools to install religious chaplains, and trying to ban books and lessons that feature diverse perspectives, copycat states followed. We expect more states to require Bible readings in public schools — until the courts stop to it.”

In Tennessee, a bill introduced earlier this year would require state schools to teach the Bible as literature.

Last year, Texas passed a bill requiring all state schools to display the Ten Commandments on classroom walls. A group of parents sued, but in April a federal appeals court ruled against them. The case became a flashpoint in the broader argument over whether the laws breach the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, a legal barrier designed to stop the government from privileging one faith over another. The families plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court – which in 1980 found school displays of the Ten Commandments unconstitutional – to reverse the lower court’s decision.

According to Texas Freedom Network, an advocacy group that supports religious freedom, social conservatives first launched a concerted effort to take control of the state board of education in the early 1990s.

It said the board’s far-right bloc has in the past opposed teaching students responsible sex education, dismissed concerns about climate change, and demanded biology textbooks included creationist arguments against evolution.

Spokesman Andrew Freeman told The Independent that the big concern for groups like his is that the inclusion of Bible stories comes at the exclusion of other religions.

What’s more, he said one of the Texas curriculum advisors is the founder of a Christian Nationalist organization.

Freeman is referring to David Barton, a man The Texas Tribune described as a “conservative Christian activist who views church-state separation as a myth and the Ten Commandments as foundational to American education.”

Barton, it said, is the founder of WallBuilders, a Christian advocacy group which believes “American liberty is being eroded” and that the country’s “biblical foundation is under constant attack.”

“And this guy’s in charge of our curriculum,” Freeman said. “These are political appointments.”

Freeman said what he finds most heartbreaking is that this new curriculum is putting forward a version of history that uplifts certain voices and ignores others. “And that sends a devastating message to kids who are having those different conversations at home … conversations that are meant for places of worship or between families that are now literally being brought into the classroom.

“Public education should be for everyone, no matter what you believe or choose not to believe. And so when you are in the classroom learning about all the violence Muslims have committed against Christians, what message does that send to the Muslim student? It’s heartbreaking.”

Savleen Singh, a senior education manager for the Sikh Coalition, said mandating a reading list that overwhelmingly centers the Bible raises serious concerns about religious favoritism and risks excluding other students. Meanwhile, Rabbi David Segal, policy counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said public schools had a duty to prepare students to participate in civic life, “not to advance a particular religious viewpoint.”

Not everyone is opposed to the new curriculum. Dawn Hatley, a Texan who testified before the Board, said by including the Bible “We’re helping raise young men and women who love truth, pursue wisdom and recognize God’s hand throughout history and human experience.”

Texas law allows parents to opt their children out of specific lessons, but state education officials said that students who skip those lessons could still be assessed on the material.

The Texas Freedom Network’s Andrew Freeman said he’s not fear mongering, “but you have to accept the reality that’s what’s happening here in Texas could absolutely set a precedent for the rest of the country. There are other states in the South that are keeping an eye on what’s happening here in Texas. Faith is important to a lot of people but faith is something that should be cherished by the family and in places of worship, not the classroom. The classroom should be about educating students … it’s our duty to set them up for success, and what’s happening right now is frankly setting them up for failure.”