Oklahoma Forces Public School Curriculum to Include Bible Lessons

The state’s top education official has mandated that Bible lessons be taught in the state’s public schools.

After state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters issued an order mandating that public schools in the state include Bible studies in their curricula, the education system in Oklahoma is at the focus of a contentious discussion. Walters describes the directive as mandatory effective immediately and states that it is intended to give public school children between the ages of eleven and eighteen a necessary historical and cultural foundation. He is announcing things for grades 5 through 12.

Former public school history teacher Walters was chosen for the position in 2022 after running on a platform critical of “woke ideology.” He justified the change, arguing that it was essential for students to comprehend the fundamental ideas of the country. Mr. Walters referred to the Bible as “an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone” in a statement on Thursday.

He said, “Oklahoma educational standards provide for its instruction because without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation.”

Mr. Walters has argued before that by removing faith from the public sphere, secularists in the US have turned atheism into a state religion.

He claimed in an opinion piece published in the previous year that the teacher unions and US President Joe Biden had replaced biblical values with “woke, anti-education values that tell students that they should be taught graphic sexual content at a young of an age as possible and that they should treat their classmates differently depending on their race and sex.”

Opponents contend that the instruction obfuscates the distinction between religion and state, and civil rights organizations denounce it as an instance of religious compulsion.

The head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rachel Laser, stated in a statement that was cited by the AP news agency, “Public schools are not Sunday schools.” “Christian nationalism in textbook form is this. Walters is exploiting his position of authority to force his religious views on the children of others. Not in our presence,” she continued.

The Oklahoma superintendent’s decision was described as “clear religious coercion” by the Interfaith Alliance, an American organization that works to protect religious liberty. “True religious freedom means ensuring that no religious group is allowed to impose their viewpoint on all Americans,” the statement continued.

The controversial order follows a similar one in Louisiana, where a statute requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public schools, including universities. Civil rights organizations claim that the exhibit violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right to freedom of religion, and that it “pressures” kids to accept the state’s preferred religion. Nine families in the state have already filed lawsuits against Louisiana.

Stakeholders anticipate a potentially lengthy court battle over the limits of religious expression in public education as the discussion heats up.