Oklahoma Mandates Immediate Bible Teaching in Schools with Strict Compliance Expected
Oklahoma’s chief school official has issued a directive requiring all state schools to immediately incorporate the Bible into their classroom curriculum. This mandate, announced by Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters, has sparked immediate outrage and threats of lawsuits in a state already under scrutiny for attempting to use taxpayer dollars to fund a Catholic school.
“Effective immediately, all Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum for grades 5 through 12,” reads the notice from Walters. He emphasized that the Bible is one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization.
In a press conference, Walters stated that every school will have a Bible in the classroom, and every teacher will be teaching from it. The Bible will be referenced as an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, and for its substantial influence on the nation’s founders and the foundational principles of the Constitution. Walters stressed that adherence to this mandate is compulsory, with immediate and strict compliance expected.
“Oklahoma kids will learn that the Bible and the Ten Commandments are foundational for Western civilization,” Walters wrote on social media. “The left is upset, but one cannot rewrite history.”
This directive comes just two days after the state’s highest court rejected what was set to become the first-ever publicly funded religious charter school. Last year, a state school board approved the creation of a taxpayer-supported online Catholic school, triggering a high-profile legal battle over whether public funds can be used to create religious schools. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, citing the First Amendment’s protections against government endorsement of religion.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which sued the state to block the school’s contract, has threatened to sue again over the Bible requirement. “Public schools are not Sunday schools,” said Rachel Laser, the group’s CEO. She criticized Walters for being unable to distinguish between public education and religious indoctrination, calling the mandate a transparent, unconstitutional effort to coerce public school students religiously.
Laser warned that the state’s latest move is “textbook Christian nationalism” and part of a broader wave of right-wing threats to public education. The group has also joined a federal lawsuit in Louisiana to block the state from requiring the Ten Commandments in every public classroom.
Oklahoma’s directive is the latest effort by conservative-led states to incorporate religion into public schools. Louisiana has required schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, and other states are under pressure to teach the Bible and ban books and lessons about race, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Walters, a former public school teacher elected in 2022, ran on a platform of fighting “woke ideology,” banning books from school libraries, and removing “radical leftists” from classrooms. He has clashed with leaders in both parties over his focus on culture-war issues, including transgender rights and book bans. In January, he faced criticism for appointing a right-wing social media influencer from New York to a state library committee.
Civil rights groups and supporters of the separation of church and state have condemned Walters’ directive. “Public schools are not Sunday schools,” reiterated Laser. “This is textbook Christian Nationalism: Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else’s children. Not on our watch.”
The Oklahoma Education Association stated that while teaching about religion and the Bible in a historical context is permissible, teaching religious doctrine is not. “Public schools cannot indoctrinate students with a particular religious belief or religious curriculum. The State Superintendent cannot usurp local control and compel education professionals to violate the Constitution,” the nonprofit educational organization said.
Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for state Attorney General Gentner Drummond, noted that Oklahoma law already allows Bibles in the classroom and lets teachers use them in instruction. However, it is unclear if Walters has the authority to mandate that schools teach it, as state law grants individual school districts the exclusive authority to decide on instruction, curriculum, reading lists, instructional materials, and textbooks.
Adam Soltani, head of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, criticized the directive as a clear violation of the Constitution’s establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion. “We adamantly oppose any requirements that religion be forcefully taught or required as a part of lesson plans in public schools, in Oklahoma, or anywhere else in the country,” Soltani said.
Stacey Woolley, president of the School Board for Tulsa Public Schools, which Walters has threatened to take over, said she had not received specific instructions on the curriculum but believed it would be inappropriate to teach students of various faiths and backgrounds excerpts from the Bible alone, without also including other religious texts.
The efforts to bring religious texts into the classroom are part of a growing national movement to create and interpret laws according to a particular conservative Christian worldview. The Oklahoma directive is likely to provoke further debate over the role of religion in public schools, an issue that has increasingly taken on national prominence.
Walters, a former history teacher who served in the Cabinet of Gov. Kevin Stitt before being elected state superintendent, has emerged as a lightning rod of conservative politics in Oklahoma and an unapologetic culture warrior in education. He has battled over the teaching of race and gender identity, fought against “woke ideology” in public schools, and at times targeted school districts and individual teachers.
Source: The Associated Press, The New York Times
