The social conservatives who dominate the Texas State Board of Education backed down last week from a few of their most outrageous efforts to tilt the state’s social studies curriculum. They dropped a proposal that President Obama be referred to as “Barack Hussein Obama” and lost in their efforts to rename the “slave trade” the “Atlantic triangular trade,” a clear attempt to downplay slavery’s horror and spread the blame.

The changes they did force into the standards for such subjects as history, government and economics were bad enough and bear no relationship to neutral pedagogy. The original curriculum standards were drawn up by teams of teachers and scholars who spent nearly a year on the huge undertaking. The board eagerly exercised its power to amend those requirements.

In what looks like an effort to justify injecting more religion into government, it voted to require students to examine why the founding fathers protected religious freedom — and how that approach contrasts with “separation of church and state.” The board also required third graders to “explain how government regulations and taxes impact