Additional Coverage:
- Oklahoma ‘immediately’ requires schools to teach the Bible: ‘Strict compliance is expected’ (newsbreak.com)
Oklahoma’s top education official has instructed all state schools to begin including the Bible in their educational programs without delay. This announcement has sparked a fierce backlash and legal threats in a state that has already faced criticism for attempting to fund a Catholic school with public money.
Republican School Superintendent Ryan Walters has mandated that from grades 5 through 12, schools must incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments into their curricula as a teaching aid. In his statement, Walters emphasized the Bible’s historical importance and its role as a foundational element of Western culture.
During a press conference on Thursday, Walters announced that every classroom would have a Bible and that teachers would use it as part of their instruction. He outlined that the Bible would serve as a reference in teaching a variety of subjects, including history, ethics, and comparative religion, highlighting its influence on America’s founders and constitutional principles. He underscored the compulsory nature of this directive, expecting immediate and strict adherence.
Walters took to social media to defend the policy, asserting that acknowledging the Bible and the Ten Commandments’ role in Western civilization is vital and dismissing criticism from the left as an attempt to deny history.
This directive was issued shortly after the state’s Supreme Court vetoed the establishment of what would have been the nation’s first public-funded religious charter school. Prior to this, a decision by a state school board to create an online Catholic school funded by taxpayers had already sparked a significant legal dispute over the use of public funds for religious education.
The decision has been met with opposition from groups advocating for the separation of church and state, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The organization’s CEO, Rachel Laser, criticized Walters for blurring the lines between public education and religious instruction, labeling the mandate as a clear violation of the constitution designed to indoctrinate students.
Laser characterized the move as emblematic of “Christian nationalism” and a part of a broader pattern of right-wing attacks on public education. The group is also involved in legal efforts to oppose similar religious mandates in other states, such as Louisiana.