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Deeming that history texts with a “pro-Islam/anti-Christian bias” should not be tolerated in Texas’ schools, the Texas Board of Education passed a resolution yesterday that requires publishers to follow their guidelines. (via AOL News)
The narrowly passed resolution (7-6) points to instances in history texts where unfavorable moments in Christian history are depicted and other instances where Islamic events that could be seen as unfavorable are “glossed over.” The Board’s final decision to pass the resolution seems to be an attempt to balance the bias they believe exists in school’s texts–all future texts are to be fixed.
But AOL News reports that Karen Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, a liberal organization opposed to the potential policy, suggested that the resolution wasn’t what it seemed.
From AOL:
“Board members rejected numerous opportunities today to pass a resolution that called on publishers to treat all religions with balance and accuracy in their textbooks,” Miller said in a statement. “It is hard not to conclude that the members who voted for this resolution were solely interested in playing on fear and bigotry in order to pit Christians against Muslims.”
That this matter is coming up now–despite the fact that the texts in question haven’t been in use since 2003–does support the suspicion that there’s more than balance in history on the minds of some members of the Board. And as TIME has reported, there is a worrying progression towards an Islamophobic America.