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A conservative Texas pastor and other activists clashed with officials representing the state’s largest school district over their alleged failure to remove materials from school libraries that some say are not age-appropriate.
The exchanges took place at the March 19 meeting of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) board, where some parents and other constituents demanded the removal of books they described as containing sexually explicit and profane content from school libraries.
Pastor Rick Scarborough, a veteran Southern Baptist minister and leader of Recover America, went viral for his comments to the board, in which he said that after more than 50 years in full-time ministry and having spoken to over 20,000 pastors, he had “never [seen] a biblical pastor who supports children having access to books that are so explicit they are banned in our prisons here in Texas.”
He invoked Jesus’ warning in the Gospels about causing “little ones” to stumble, suggesting to the board that continuing their book policy would result in their eternal judgment.
“Jesus warned that if anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a millstone hung around their neck and be cast into the sea,” he said, paraphrasing Matthew 18:6. “That millstone awaits those of you who use your delegated authority to ignore federal and state law by keeping these materials in our libraries.”
Scarborough then warned he would potentially pursue legal action if the board continued its failure to take action against contested books such as A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah Maas after banning other books in 2024, like the classic Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
“If you continue to refuse their removal from HISD, I will dedicate the rest of my life to ensuring you that you’re held accountable, including lawsuits,” he said.
A former pastor at First Baptist Church of Pearland, Scarborough has long mobilized pastors for cultural and political engagement. After founding the advocacy group Vision America in 1994, Scarborough now leads Recover America, a group dedicated to promoting what it calls a “biblical worldview” in education and public policy. His activism has included challenging what he sees as leftist influences in schools and government.
Scarborough spoke immediately after Bonnie Wallace, a legislative liaison for Recover America, who attempted to read an explicit excerpt from A Court of SilverFlames — which is available in some HISD high schools — before she was cut off by several board members.
Before she started speaking, Wallace announced her intention to read the book’s content and warned, “If there are children in the audience, they need to leave.” As she began reading, she was repeatedly warned that doing so would violate decorum and could lead to her removal from the meeting.
Wallace angrily replied, “If you don’t like it, remove it … so the children don’t have access to it!”
She was then escorted from the meeting by police.
The Christian Post reached out to Houston ISD for comment.
Scarborough and Remnant Alliance have been described in secular media as part of a “coalition of Christian nationalist groups that are working to educate, train and mobilize conservative Christian congregations to influence the outcomes of local elections — especially school boards.”
“For decades, various far-right, faith-based organizations have been working to train pastors and turn congregants into school board activists and candidates,” according to a May 2024 report from the left-leaning Texas Observer, which has disparaged the group in its reporting. “But now, the Remnant Alliance has united several powerful conservative Christian groups. The overarching ideology of these groups is Christian nationalism.”
