The Texas State Board of Education took decisive action on September 4, voting 8‑4 to adopt a revised set of high‑school history standards. The new curriculum will require students to study the early military campaigns of the Prophet Muhammad and the subsequent Islamic expansion, while also emphasizing Christianity’s foundational impact on Western civilization and the United States.
Key components of the standards
The package covers U.S. History, U.S. Government, World History and World Geography, with implementation slated for the 2033‑2034 school year. In the World History unit (A.D. 476‑1000), the standards describe Muhammad’s “brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes,” note the taking of female captives as “harem slaves,” and link jihad to the conquest of Christian lands such as Jerusalem, Syria and Egypt.
Other sections address Muslim and Viking slave raiding, Ottoman expansion, the capture of Constantinople, the Mughal Empire, and the Barbary and Atlantic slave trades. Christianity’s history is presented alongside, covering the Crusades, the Reconquista, and wars between Catholics and Protestants.
Christianity and American foundations
The standards explicitly connect Christianity to the development of Western civilization and early America. Topics include Jesus, the Jewish origins of Christianity, biblical moral teaching, Christian persecution under Rome, and the influence of religious institutions on human dignity. The curriculum also highlights William Wilberforce’s Christian faith as a driving force behind his opposition to the slave trade.
In the American‑history portion, the Bible, Greek and Roman thought, English common law, and the First Great Awakening are identified as influences on the Revolution and the formation of the new government. The standards note the role of religious motives in colonial settlement, the Second Great Awakening’s reform agenda, and biblical imagery in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Government and civic virtue
The U.S. Government standards link religion with civic virtue, limited government and liberty. Students will examine John Adams’ assertion that a moral and religious people are essential to the Republic, and the Declaration of Independence’s reference to God‑given rights. The standards also cover religious liberty, freedom of conscience, the Bill of Rights, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Supreme Court case Abington School District v. Schempp regarding First Amendment protections in public schools.
Support and opposition
Board Member Brandon Hall (R‑Fort Worth) defended retaining the word “brutal” in the description of Muhammad’s campaigns, arguing that removing it would “whitewash and water down a part of history.” Conversely, CAIR‑Texas and CAIR Action Texas condemned the language as “bigoted caricatures,” claiming the standards disparage Islam while favoring Christianity.
Governor Greg Abbott (R‑Texas) previously designated the national CAIR organization and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations under Texas law, underscoring the administration’s firm stance against groups it deems hostile to American values.
Balancing scholarship and faith
Content adviser Andrea Hutchison suggested that describing seventh‑century captives with later Ottoman terminology was misleading, but she still supported inclusion of early Islamic military expansion and added references to the Islamic Golden Age’s contributions to mathematics, medicine and astronomy.
Supporters, such as Mary Elizabeth Castle, director of government relations for Texas Values, argue that a full understanding of America requires teaching both its religious heritage and the broader historical forces that shaped it. “If we want students to understand our American story, we have to stop cutting chapters out of the book,” she said.
Next steps
The board has already adopted K‑8 standards and a required reading list, but final action on the four high‑school courses remains pending. An administrative effective date is expected within 20 days of filing with the Texas Register, subject to a two‑thirds board vote.
Original reporting: The Dallas Express — read the source article.
