New Texas social studies curriculum will teach role 'radical Islam' played in 9/11
On a Friday the members of the Texas State Board of Education sat down to decide on changes to what high school students will study in social studies classes. The vote passed eight to three and set the new material to begin in the 2033-34 school year. The updates add clear expectations for lessons on how Christianity started with the life and teachings of Jesus, grew out of Jewish traditions, and spread through the work of the apostles across the Roman Empire. Students will also examine how Christian ideas about human dignity took hold after the empire legalized the faith. Lessons will cover the time of persecution under Nero, the actions of Emperor Constantine, the Edict of Milan, and the Nicene Creed as turning points that shaped later Western thought. Further sections describe the part Christianity played in medieval life through monastic communities, mission work, and the founding of hospitals and orphanages. Teachers will guide classes through the influence of those same beliefs on early American ideals such as limited government and the preservation of liberty. The curriculum also requires coverage of William Wilberforce and how his Christian convictions drove his campaign against the slave trade. In American history classes students will learn about the Second Great Awakening and its link to reform efforts including abolition and temperance, as well as the role of Billy Graham in domestic anticommunism movements. World history lessons will explain the rise of radical Islam through groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, along with the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the use of Iranian proxies. The same courses will note the teachings of jihad and earlier military campaigns connected to the growth of Islam. The board also included study of Sir William Blackstone and the view that human law should align with natural law and scripture. Religious texts from both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament will be presented for their effect on history and literature.