Texas Reintroduces the Bible to Public Schools
"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed."
The Texas State Board of Education has voted to make selected passages from the Bible required reading in public schools.
Under the curriculum, students will study portions of Scripture alongside other foundational texts, including selections from the Book of Exodus and The Shepherd’s Psalm, in Psalm 23.
Supporters of the new reading list argue that the move is not merely about religious instruction, but rather, ensuring students understand the moral, historical, and philosophical foundations of Western civilisation.
Republican board member Julie Pickeren explained that the curriculum is designed to give students “important insight into the moral and philosophical traditions that have shaped Western civilisation.
“When students engage directly with original writings, speeches, sermons, and foundational texts, Pickeren told The Texas Tribune, “they can evaluate ideas and develop a deeper understanding of the principles that have shaped the USA and Texas.”
The decision reflects a long-standing American educational tradition famously championed by founding-era educator and lexicographer Noah Webster, who is often regarded as the father of American scholarship.
Webster argued that Christianity was indispensable to both education and civil liberty.
“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed… No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people…”
Webster explained, “When I speak of the Christian religion as the basis of government… I mean the primitive Christianity in its simplicity as taught by Christ and His Apostles, consisting of a belief in the being, perfections, and government of God; in the revelation of His will to men, as their supreme rule of action; in man’s accountability to God for his conduct in this life; and in the indispensable obligations of all men to yield entire obedience to God’s commands in the moral law and the Gospel.”1
He maintained that the Bible wasn’t just a religious text, but the primary source of moral truth for society:
“The Bible must be considered as the great source of all the truth by which men are to be guided in government as well as in all social transactions.”2
Thus, Webster argued that the Bible is the “chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society."
For Webster, education and religion were inseparable. He rightly believed that every nation inevitably teaches a worldview through its schools and education system, and that America’s prosperity had been built upon a distinctly biblical foundation, not to be ignored or forgotten.
Similarly, Dr Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote extensively on this topic and argued that “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion.
“Without this, there can be no virtue, and without virtue, there can be no liberty; and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. But the religion I mean to recommend in this place is that of the New Testament.
Rush continued: “In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes, and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity, by means of the Bible; for this divine book, above all others favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism.”3
Not long after Rush penned these words, on September 17, 1796, during his Farewell Address, George Washington warned that the two indispensable supports holding up the nation were first, the Christian religion, and second, morality. To topple one is to topple the other, and to topple both is to topple the nation.
He said:
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.
“In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
“The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them.
“A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity…
“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
For Washington, it was the “duty of all nations,” not just Americans, to “acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,” and to “obey his will” and “to be grateful for his benefits and humbly implore his protection and favor.”
Today, Texas is leading the way, not only for America but for the wider Western world, which has forgotten the foundations upon which its civilisation was built.
Noah Webster, A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects (New York: Webster & Clark, 1843) p. 291. From his essay, "Reply to a Letter of David Reese, Esq."
Noah Webster, The History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), p. 339, paragraph 53.
Benjamin Rush, Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic, 1786