Texas curriculum to portray Islam as 'radical' and 'brutal'

Key facts

• The Texas State Board of Education approved a new social studies curriculum on Friday.
• The curriculum will teach high school students that Islam is 'radical' and 'brutal'.
• The decision passed with an 8-4 vote.
• The new curriculum will affect approximately five million students starting in the 2030-2031 school year.
• The curriculum will require reading Bible passages and highlight Christianity's positive attributes.
• Early Islam's military campaigns will be described as 'brutal', while Christian wars will not receive the same descriptor.
• Teaching on early Islam will specifically frame the religion through a lens of slavery and female captivity.
• The 9/11 attacks will be taught as motivated by 'radical Islam' rather than political causes.
• Critics, including Muslim lawmakers and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), have slammed the decision.
• Texas Governor Greg Abbott has previously taken actions perceived as targeting the state's Muslim population.

The Texas State Board of Education has approved a new social studies curriculum that will frame Islam as 'radical' and 'brutal' for high school students. The decision, made by an 8-4 vote after hours of public testimony, will affect approximately five million students starting in the 2030-2031 school year.

The revised curriculum mandates reading Bible passages, highlighting Christianity's positive aspects, and describing early Islamic military campaigns as 'brutal,' a term not applied to Christian wars. It will also frame early Islam through the lens of slavery and female captivity, and attribute the 9/11 attacks to 'radical Islam' rather than political motives.

Critics, including Muslim lawmakers and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), have strongly condemned the move, calling it selective history and an attempt to denigrate a specific religion. CAIR stated that public schools should teach history accurately and fairly, not force teachers and students to single out and denigrate a religion.

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, however, supported the decision, stating that students 'deserve to know the truth about Islam.'

This curriculum change follows a pattern of actions by Texas Governor Greg Abbott that have been seen as targeting the state's Muslim population. These include threatening to withhold grants from airports for projects like ablution stations and previously designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations, barring them from acquiring land in Texas.