FILE: Texas education officials ruled that Moses reference can remain in curriculum. (GSU)
Texas education officials tentatively approved keeping the biblical figure Moses in the state’s social studies curriculum Wednesday while voting to change the language that potentially links Islamic fundamentalism with terrorism.
The board’s actions comes despite recommendations from one of its working groups to remove the biblical prophet and a day after it voted to keep Hillary Clinton and disability advocate Helen Keller in history lessons taught to Texas students, the Austin American-Statesmen reported.
A final vote on the changes is expected Friday.
Voting along Party lines, the majority-Republican board’s vote means high school students will learn about Moses, William Blackstone, John Locke and Charles de Montesquieu as those who influenced the Founding Fathers.
“In the United States, the most common book in any household in this time period was, in fact, the Bible, and people who didn’t necessarily believe in religion as such ... still had a great knowledge of the Bible," said board member Pat Hardy. "In referencing Moses in the time period, they would have known who Moses was and that Moses was the law-giver."
Moses, considered a prophet in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, was inserted into the Texas curriculum in 2010.
Some Republican board members cited a Supreme Court decision in favor of displaying the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol to retain Moses.
Democrats on the board noted Moses' spiritual and historical significance but had misgivings that he directly influenced the Founding Fathers.
“Maybe he was a law-giver, but that doesn’t mean he influenced our Founding Fathers,” said board member Ruben Cortez. “That doesn’t mean we can make a giant leap that someone from an entirely different continent centuries ago ... was somehow responsible for drafting ... these founding documents.”
Other notable actions include approving language that tones down links between Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, which critics have said is biased against Muslims.
Students will instead learn about radical Islamic terrorism and its geopolitical influences. The new social studies curriculum will take effect next school year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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