Texas school board concerned that textbooks are too nice to Muslims

The powerful Board of Education considers a resolution demanding more pro-Christian messages in history books

Published September 17, 2010 10:01PM (EDT)

The famed Texas School Board is sick and tired of Muslims infiltrating our kids' textbooks. The isolated group of far-right morons always attracts a lot of attention, because their ill-informed decisions affect textbooks used by children all over the nation. Having gone down the entire list of culture-war boogeymen in their last go-round, one nut recently realized that they hadn't yet had a go at the Muslims, and so he introduced a resolution instructing publishers not to be so pro-Islamic and anti-Christian all the time.

Members of the board's social conservative bloc asked for the resolution after an unsuccessful candidate for a board seat called on the panel to head off any bias against Christians in new social studies books. Some contend that "Middle Easterners" are increasingly buying into companies that publish textbooks.

A preliminary draft of the resolution states that "diverse reviewers have repeatedly documented gross pro-Islamic, anti-Christian distortions in social studies texts" across the U.S. and that past social studies textbooks in Texas also have been "tainted" with pro-Islamic, anti-Christian views.

The problem is some history books wrote about the Crusades, and have passages about Islamic beliefs, perhaps under the assumption that Texas kids might know less about Islamic beliefs than Christian beliefs.

It is all part and parcel of the right-wing argument that the best way to combat terrorism is to constantly scream yourself hoarse about jihad, as hysterically as you possibly can. Now our children will be safe.

(Hey, Texas -- Georgia's laughing at you. Georgia!)


By Alex Pareene

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene

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