In Oklahoma, an 'Extraordinary Move' on Bible in the Classroom

Ryan Walters, state superintendent, orders the religious text to be taught in public schools
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 28, 2024 8:23 AM CDT
Oklahoma's Schools Chief Orders Bible Be Taught in Class
Ryan Walters speaks at a rally on Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City.   (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

Coming to classrooms in Oklahoma: the Bible. The state's superintendent has ordered the religious text be taught in Oklahoma's public schools, reports the New York Times, which calls it "an extraordinary move that blurs the lines between religious instruction and public education." "Every teacher, every classroom in the state will have a Bible in the classroom, and will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom," Ryan Walters said on Thursday, though the AP notes that the directive from Walters, a 39-year-old conservative Christian and ex-AP history instructor, applies to classrooms from fifth grade through 12th.

"Immediate and strict compliance is expected," the order reads. It comes about a week after Louisiana ordered the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, a move that has already been hit with legal challenges. This, too, will likely face pushback in the courts. "Public schools are not Sunday schools," Rachel Laser, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, tells the Times, adding to the Wall Street Journal that the decision is a "transparent, unconstitutional effort to indoctrinate and religiously coerce public school students."

Her group is also challenging the Louisiana Ten Commandments mandate. Some aren't even sure that Walters has the authority to make such a sweeping order, as state law leaves such authority on instruction and curriculum to individual school districts. The superintendent, however, is adamant that the Bible be a required study topic in his state. It's "a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of Western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our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," Walters says, per the Times.

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The paper notes other states allow the Bible in schools, though typically only in certain classes that study it from a historical or literary standpoint: "Few other states, if any, have issued such a broad requirement" as Walters'. The Journal notes Walters, once a finalist for the state's teacher of the year honor, has been a fierce advocate against what he calls "woke ideology" in public schools, accusing teachers' unions of being terrorist groups and leftists of creating an "Epstein Island" of sexual predators in the classroom. Earlier this week, Oklahoma's Supreme Court blocked an attempt by the state to set up Oklahoma's first publicly funded religious school. (More Oklahoma stories.)

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