‘The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country,’ state Superintendent Ryan Walters said.
Oklahoma’s top state school official announced on June 27 that public schools must incorporate the Bible in curricula, effective immediately.
During a meeting at the State Board of Education, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters framed the decision about incorporating the Bible into public schools as one that is primarily about teaching children about the foundations of Western civilization and the U.S. legal system.
“The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of Western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our legal system,” Mr. Walters said on June 27.
Every classroom in Oklahoma must now have a Bible and teachers must use it during their instruction, he said.
Critics of the move, he added in a social media post, “cannot rewrite history” by omitting both the Bible and the Ten Commandments from school curricula.
The move follows a law that was passed in Louisiana earlier this month that mandated that all public classrooms in the state display the Ten Commandments, prompting lawsuits from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who have argued that the directive violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
The Oklahoma directive aligns with “the educational standards approved on or about May 2019, with which all districts must comply,” said a news release from Mr. Walters’s office. The move to have Bibles in classrooms is “effective immediately,” the release said.
“Without basic knowledge of [the Bible], Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation,” he said. “This is not merely an educational directive but a crucial step in ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country.”
Mr. Walters’s directive will likely be challenged in court by civil liberties groups. The ACLU didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
