While national attention fell on the race for U.S. Senate in Texas, other monumental changes are likely from down-ballot races that also went to Democrats for the first time in decades. Among those are a shakeup in the Texas Supreme…
As Texas Gov. Abbott targets Muslim groups, his PAC receives millions from Muslim oil exec
One of the largest donors to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s political action committee is a Pakistani American Muslim oil executive and philanthropist, who has given nearly $4 million to the PAC since 2025 alone. Over the same period, Abbott has…
Here’s why oil and religion mix in the Texas Senate race
In Texas, the 2026 midterm election is a fight between two poorly understood brands of religion filtered through the oil business. Texas is a solidly red state. In 2024, Donald Trump won the state by 13.7 points. In 2022, Republican Gov….
As anti-Hindu rhetoric grows, Texas Hindus rethink public celebrations
For close to 15 years, Seema Ashar has hosted a celebration for Ganesh Chaturthi, a Hindu festival celebrating its namesake deity, inviting about 100 friends into her Irving, Texas, home.
After outcry, Texas lieutenant governor says schools should teach Holocaust books ‘Night,’ ‘Anne Frank’
The lieutenant governor of Texas says his recent call for the state’s public schools to remove “over 2,000 titles” of “dirty, filthy and vulgar books” was not meant to include books about the Holocaust.
Texas criticized for adopting curriculum with anti-Muslim themes
The Texas State Board of Education recently approved a social studies curriculum that disparages Islam and minimizes Black history. Muslims and education experts who attended the board’s Aug. 31 meeting urged its members to reconsider adopting the changes, saying they…
What Else Is Going Back to School?
A new school year means new notebooks, new pencils, new lunchboxes, new clothes, and at least one new backpack that will disappear before October. It also means new state and federal policies — Bible readings, Ten Commandments displays, and federal…
I’m a mother asking the court to block Texas’ Ten Commandments law
I am a Baptist pastor in Texas, the mother of an elementary-school child and one of the plaintiffs in Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, a lawsuit challenging a Texas law (SB-10) that requires public schools to post the…
Multifaith group urges Supreme Court to weigh in on Texas commandments case
A group of multifaith families in Texas filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court Aug. 17 challenging a state law mandating Ten Commandments displays in all public-school classrooms. The filing by more than two dozen Baha’i, Christian, Jewish, Hindu,…
Texas needs a ‘detransition clinic’ like I need a hairbrush
Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott have sold the state of Texas a pack of lies about transgender people, and lives are in danger as a result. Paxton, our controversial attorney general who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Abbott,…
Houston moms say Ten Commandments law violates RFRA and parental rights
Three Houston-area mothers are taking a novel approach to fighting the Texas law mandating posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. The women are relying on the state’s laws on required parental consent and on the state’s Religious Freedom…
No Proof That Texas Midwife Violated Abortion Ban, Court Overturns Ruling To Close Clinics
Texas provided no evidence that Houston-based midwife Maria Rojas violated the state’s abortion ban, a state appeals court ruled on Thursday.