Texas schools will now teach students about how radical extremist Islam motivated the 9/11 attacks.

This comes after the state’s education board approved the change, according to the Texas Tribune.

State Board of Education members on Friday approved a rewrite of what Texas high schoolers learn in social studies, disregarding pleas from Muslims who testified that schools should teach how people of Islamic faith positively contributed to world history. 

The Republican majority instead adopted a lesson, for example, requiring public school students to learn that “radical Islam” motivated the 9/11 attacks, as opposed to more narrowly focusing on terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and extremists such as Osama bin Laden. A Muslim-American EMT was notably among those killed while attempting to save lives during the tragedy. 

The board greenlit students learning about early Islam through the lens of the Prophet Muhammad’s “brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization and regulation of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves.” No credible Islamic scholar would find such a portrayal accurate, the Muslim Texans argued. 

At least three of the board’s appointed experts also cautioned against the characterization. Andrea Hutchison, a social studies curriculum coordinator for Prosper ISD, said it does not “hold up to close historical scrutiny.” Robert Koons, a philosophy professor at UT-Austin, said most nonreligious scholars find the source of the claims “not very reliable.”

“I would warn us about including things that are not based on well-established secular sources,” Koons said Friday. 

With minor tweaks, a Republican majority approved it anyway. The GOP members voted against eliminating the word “brutal,” as suggested by their colleague, Will Hickman. 

They did not revive a previously deleted expectation that schools teach about Muslim contributions to algebra and astronomy. Students testified earlier in the week that the decision to instead portray Islam as violent will cause significant harm to them and their classmates.

The state’s board of education recently made other controversial changes that faced criticism. It approved a literature list that mandates Bible passages like the story of David and Goliath and Jonah and the Whale in elementary schools. It also mandates the Book of Job for high schoolers. The new changes do not include required readings of texts from other faiths.

Reactions to the changes were split. Supporters argue that the revisions promote patriotism. “We just want our students to love our country,” Board member Julie Pickren said.

Chairman Aaron Kinsey said the related civics program “brings traditional values back to Texas classrooms and will help set our kids up for lifelong success.”

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But critics say the standards favor one religion while distorting history. Andrew Freeman of the Texas Freedom Network said, “It’s heartbreaking. We’re disappointed, not terribly surprised.”

Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation said, “Texas is telling millions of children that one religion deserves the government’s seal of approval, while everyone else is an afterthought.”