← Back to all diffs
NPR

Texas will require students to read Bible passages in a new state curriculum

View original article →
+550 words added -928 words removed
Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Texas will require students to read Bible passages in a new state curriculum Texas students will be required to read Bible passages and learn about the role of Christianity in the state's history under new reading lists and social studies curriculum expected to be approved Friday. National Texas will require students to read Bible passages in a new state curriculum June 27, 20267:40 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday By Bill Zeeble , Scott Simon Texas will require students to read Bible passages in a new state curriculum Listen &middot; 3:20 3:20 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5871316/nx-s1-9827590" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Texas students will be required to read Bible passages and learn about the role of Christianity in the state's history under new reading lists and social studies curriculum expected to be approved Friday.
− Sponsor Message SCOTT SIMON, HOST: China's northeast region borders Russia, Siberia and North Korea.
+ Sponsor Message SCOTT SIMON, HOST: The Texas State Board of Education approved a required student reading list yesterday.
− It's a cold, vast area known for its gritty industrial history.
+ It includes Bible passages, along with classics by writers like Shakespeare.
− But now the northeast is also the source of some of the country's most popular music and culture, and it's come to represent both nostalgia for China's past and apprehension for the country's economic future.
+ Trustees also rewrote a social studies curriculum to include biblical references, biblical influences and a stronger focus on the U.S.
− NPR's Emily Feng brings us this story. EMILY FENG, BYLINE: China's northeast - or Dongbei as it's called in Mandarin - looms large in the Chinese cultural imagination... (SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING) FENG: ...Immortalized by documentaries like this one, from 2002 called "West Of The Tracks," about Dongbei.
+ and Texas.
− It's full of scenes of coal-lugging trains, smokestacks and smelting factories.
+ Bill Zeeble with member station KERA in Dallas joins us.
− Dongbei was glorified as China's rust belt, producing model factory workers and war heroes lauded for holding off advancing American-led forces during the Korean War. But the region has fallen on harder times, says Tony Hao, a U.S.-based translater of Dongbei literature, whose family lived in Dongbei during its boom years, the '70s and '80s.
+ Bill, thanks for being with us.
− TONY HAO: Back then, people working for state factories were able to, like, work for a decent amount and also get a comfortable living situation.
+ BILL ZEEBLE, BYLINE: Good morning.
− FENG: But starting in the late 1990s, he says tens of millions of state factory workers were laid off.
+ SIMON: And what's behind this decision?
− HAO: Good education, good healthcare, and then all of that collapsed. FENG: Dongbei shrunk in population as people moved away.
+ ZEEBLE: Well, for years, the state basically has been rewriting its Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, what officials here call the TEKS.
− Property prices in places cratered.
+ That's for social studies, and for changing which books Texans have to read in school.
− But over the last decade, its creative influence has only grown with a large number of popular rappers like this one, named Dong Baoshi...
+ Yesterday, the board made it official by approving the social studies requirements. They take Texas and U.S. exceptionalism perspective. So there's less of a world history and less about cultures and more of a focus on patriotism and the state's history here. As for the reading list, it adds at least one Bible passage for every grade. So passages like the prodigal son or Psalm 23.
− (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD WOLF DISCO") DONG BAOSHI: (Rapping in non-English language).
+ SIMON: Of course, Bible passages have officially been kept out of school curricula across the country for years to honor the idea of separating church and state. This is a big change, isn't it?
− FENG: ...As well as prominent writers and filmmakers hailing from Dongbei.
+ ZEEBLE: Yeah.
− Dong Baoshi went on a talk show called the "Roast" in 2018 and half-jokingly dubbed this phenomenon...
+ I mean, I'm reading that it's a first. Those who favor the Bible passages say, in part, it basically follows recent state law that called for their inclusion, and that the First Amendment lets you mention religion in schools as long as you don't make that religion official. The majority of the 15 elected board members say Christianity was key to the founding of this state and the country. Brandon Hall is one of the board members. He's also a minister.
− (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ROAST") BAOSHI: (Speaking Mandarin). FENG: ...The Dongbei Renaissance, a topic now studied by academics both in and out of China and which has inspired podcasts and themed comedy clubs. CHEN DONG: (Speaking Mandarin). FENG: Dongbei was the engine of modern China says Dongbei native Chen Dong.
+ BRANDON HALL: America and Texas have been a Christian nation and a Christian state forever.
− Chen is one of the founders of a fan club in the Dongbei city of Shenyang, which gets together to study this slapstick television show called "Ma Dashuai"...
+ Of course, there are other faiths that are represented, but they've had a minimal impact.
− (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MA DASHUAI") UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, speaking Mandarin). UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking Mandarin). UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, speaking Mandarin). UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking Mandarin). FENG: ...A cult classic in the 2000s, whose bumbling Dongbei bumpkin and the big-city character struck a chord in a China that was then urbanizing.
+ SIMON: Bill, I gather nearly 500 people signed up to address the board about these changes.
− And the show's main actor, Zhao Benshan, has been a household name in China since the '90s because of his distinctive, earthy Dongbei accent.
+ I'm going to guess a lot of them disagreed.
− (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MA DASHUAI") ZHAO BENSHAN: (As character, speaking Mandarin). (LAUGHTER) FENG: Zhao launched jokes that probed at rural urban divides and referenced stereotypes of Dongbei people as brash and direct. JESSE APPELL: There's a lot of comedy writers and sketch comedy people that come out of Dongbei. FENG: That's Jesse Appell.
+ ZEEBLE: A lot of them agreed, but yes, hundreds disagreed.
− He's an American comedian and a longtime student of Chinese comedy.
+ They signed up to oppose the biblical passages and changes to the social studies curriculum.
− And he says many Chinese comedians have been inspired by Dongbei's saucy comedy styles, all delivered in the Dongbei dialect, which adds a blustery, sometimes corn liquor-infused touch. APPELL: Yeah.
+ They said it ignores other religions, and it pushes Christianity over Islam, Judaism, other faiths, and those who don't believe in God at all.
− There's a bunch of, like, Dongbei video-sketch channels on, like, social media, where there'll be just this girl, and she looks cute, but then she'll take some sort of, like, bottle and smash it against a second bottle and open both of them and swirl it around and, like, chug the whole bottle.
+ Rabbi Joshua Fixler - he told the board there's a difference between teaching religion and teaching about religion.
− FENG: But the Dongbei aesthetic can also be dark.
+ JOSHUA FIXLER: My fourth grader would have to read three religious texts.
− A whole genre of true crime Dongbei noir has blossomed, tapping into the region's reputation for corruption and violent crime...
+ All three center on Christian messages of faith and theology to which my family does not ascribe.
− (SOUNDBITE OF DING KE'S "INFINITE DAYS OF WHITENESS") FENG: ...As epitomized by this TV show, "The Long Season," a 1990s period drama about a gruesome dismemberment at a state steel factory.
+ ZEEBLE: Fixler said using Christian passages and the reading requirements puts teachers in a really tough spot, and he basically wasn't alone.
− (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LONG SEASON") UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character, speaking Mandarin).
+ SIMON: What happens next?
− UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character, speaking Mandarin). FENG: It is one of the most watched shows in the last three years in China, and based off a short story by one of the most famous Dongbei writers, Ban Yu.
+ ZEEBLE: Well, the board approved the required reading list, changes to social studies and history for grades K-8 were approved.
− Researcher Shiqi Lin specializes in Dongbei literature at Cornell University, and she studies Ban Yu's writings and many others.
+ Most of the work for high school has been put off until the board meets again in September.
− She detects not just nostalgia, but a shift in recent years to using Dongbei films and stories as a way to make sense of the future. SHIQI LIN: I actually always say Dongbei is the future of the world, and people are really catching up on this consciousness.
+ The changes are scheduled to start in 2030, 2031, that school year.
− What happened in the '90s Dongbei is what's happening in the current moment for a lot of Chinese workers, American workers with mass layoffs going on where, like, the kind of economic prosperity and stability that they projected was no longer there.
+ So that gives publishers time to make their changes.
− FENG: But another Dongbei writer, Shuang Xuetao, tells NPR there's also magic to be found in the region.
+ SIMON: Bill Zeeble out of KERA in Dallas.
− He's one of China's most translated writers, and in his dreamy, sometimes surreal stories - many of which take place in Dongbei, -he says...
+ Thanks so much.
− SHUANG XUETAO: (Speaking Mandarin). FENG: He writes about individuals who achieve impossible things despite the circumstances they have been dealt. XUETAO: (Speaking Mandarin). FENG: And his message is that any person, including those in Dongbei, can find the will to change their lives. Emily Feng, NPR News.
+ ZEEBLE: It's been a pleasure.
Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{309:function(e,n,o){o.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([o.e(1),o.e(2),o.e(3),o.e(4),o.e(81)]).then((e=>{o(15),o(770),o(154),o(175),o(93),o(448),o(253),o(128),o(130),o(755),o(174),o(756),o(254),o(77),o(774)}).bind(null,o)).catch(o.oe)},783:function(e,n,o){e.exports=o(309)}},[[783,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();