Oklahoma public schools will teach about the Bible and the Ten Commandments, says State Superintendent Ryan Walters.
By Eileen Griffin
All students in Oklahoma public schools will be provided instruction on the Ten Commandments and the Bible.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters (R) announced Thursday that teaching the Bible and the Ten Commandments will be mandatory in all public school classrooms effective immediately, The Wall Street Journal reports. The plan is to incorporate both into history lessons.
Every teacher and every classroom in the state will have a Bible. Teachers will be required to teach from the Bible in the classroom. The Bible will be displayed prominently in grades 5-12.
“This is a historical argument,” Walters told the WSJ. “The left can be offended, but that’s our history.”
“The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of western civilization, to have an understanding of the basis of our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, and frankly, when we are talking about the Bible, one of the most foundational documents used for the constitution and the birth of our country,” Walters wrote on X.
Walters has been an outspoken critic of “woke” ideology, often expressing concerns for its negative effects on public education. State Superintendent is an elected position in Oklahoma, and Walters campaigned on the promise to fight back against the radical Left and the indoctrination of Oklahoma school children. He easily won his election, with 57 percent of the vote, in 2022.
Other states are also taking action. A new law in Louisiana mandates the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, as Heartland Daily News reported. Texas officials also plan to put a copy of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom.
While there is strong support among conservatives to bring the Ten Commandments and the Bible back into the classroom, opponents, such as the ACLU and the teacher’s unions, are pushing back and taking action.
A group led by the ACLU has already filed a lawsuit against the new Louisiana law. The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation issued a joint statement.
“We are preparing a lawsuit to challenge H.B. 71,” the statement reads in part. “The law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional.”
“The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government. Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed his support for the new law in his home state of Louisiana, The Hill reports. Although the law is being challenged in court, Johnson says he thinks the law will stand the constitutional scrutiny.
“And I think it should pass court muster,” Johnson told reporters. “I think there’s a number of states trying to look to do the same thing, and I don’t think it’s offensive in any way. I think it’s a positive thing.”
“It’s not an establishment of religion,” Johnson said. “It’s not. They’re not trying to enforce any particular religious code. They’re just saying this is part of the history and tradition.”
“The modern interpretation of the establishment clause in the First Amendment has been an unmitigated disaster,” writes Auron MacIntyre in an opinion article for The Blaze.
“By expelling biblical education from public schools in the name of secular neutrality, we effectively banned Western culture,” MacIntyre writes. “Now, our children speak the shared language of gay race communism instead.”
“When Christianity was purged from American public life through a radical interpretation of the First Amendment and civil rights law, an ideological void was left at the center of our institutions, and nature abhors a vacuum. LGBTQ ideology stood ready to fill that void.”
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