When Fear Becomes a Lesson Plan: The Spiritual Cost of Teaching Against a Neighbor

In June, before the Texas State Board of Education, Republican Executive Committee member Tony Robertson urged officials not to “Sharia our Texas,” invoking the specter of Western Europe as a warning. The board was deciding what Texas students would learn about Islam. That moment — a political rallying cry crossing into curriculum — is the subject of a new Religion News Service podcast episode with journalists Fiona André and Ulaa Kuziez.

For people of faith, the story raises an old question: what does it do to a soul to be taught to fear a neighbor? Muslim Texans, though few in number, have long stayed quiet. Now they are organizing, speaking out, and using American civic strategies to claim their place — a response rooted in patience rather than panic.

The spiritual stakes cut both ways. A curriculum shaped by fear forms children in suspicion; a community answering fear with presence forms them in courage. As Robertson told the board, “We as Texans, we need to have the courage of our stated convictions.” The question is which convictions our lessons will teach.