As early as third grade, Utah students will need to study Bible passages in social studies lessons under new law
Utah students will be required to analyze specific Bible passages referenced or “alluded to” in U.S. historical documents as part of the state’s sweeping new social studies curriculum.
That’s under HB312 “School Curriculum and Standards Modifications,” which Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law last week.
Exactly which passages would need to be studied has yet to be determined, but the Utah State Board of Education has until the 2028-29 school year to decide.
The measure directs public schools to incorporate the Bible as a historical and literary text that influenced early American thought into core social studies instructions.
It also requires a comparative analysis of certain “philosophical traditions,” including “Enlightenment philosophy, Protestant and Catholic thought, deism and natural law theory.”
Students in grades three through 12 are subject to the standards.
That all means educators will be teaching pieces of the Bible but not the “Bible as a whole,” said Jennifer Wadsworth, a policy advisor with USBE.
“It’s just the specific passages from the texts that allude to founding documents,” Wadsworth said.
She added the bill explicitly prohibits teaching “theology or doctrine,” and that religious concepts must be discussed in a “historical context” that have a “documented influence on American civic thought.”
That includes references to “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Supreme Judge of the world” and “divine Providence” in the Declaration of Independence, according to the bill’s language. It allows for other religious concepts that appear in historical documents to be explored, too, though that wouldn’t be required.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2026/03/30/utah-students-will-need-learn/
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Love the scenery and mountains, absolutely despise the Mormon right wing influence on politics.
