Oklahoma’s state superintendent, Ryan Walters, has issued a directive mandating that public schools across the state integrate the Bible into their curricula, effective immediately. This move marks the latest cultural flashpoint in the ongoing debate over religion in U.S. classrooms.
In his directive, Walters, a Republican, emphasised the necessity of “strict compliance” with the new rule, which applies to all students from grades five to twelve. He described the Bible as “an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone” essential for students to understand the foundation of the United States.
“Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualise the foundation of our nation,” Walters stated. He was elected in 2022 on a platform focused on combating what he termed “woke ideology” and removing “radical leftists” from the state’s education system.
This directive has sparked significant controversy in Oklahoma. Civil rights organisations and advocates for the separation of church and state have criticised the move.
Rachel Laser, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, condemned the directive, stating, “Public schools are not Sunday schools. This is textbook Christian Nationalism: Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else’s children.”
Walters has previously argued that secularism has become a state religion in the U.S., sidelining faith from the public sphere. In an op-ed for Fox News, he accused President Joe Biden and teachers’ unions of replacing biblical values with “woke, anti-education values.”
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The Interfaith Alliance, a group advocating for religious freedom, labelled the directive as “blatant religious coercion.” The group emphasised that true religious freedom ensures no single religious group can impose its beliefs on all Americans.
This development follows a recent law in Louisiana requiring all public schools to display the Ten Commandments, a move that has already led to legal challenges. Nine families in Louisiana have sued the state, arguing that such a mandate violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom and pressures students to adopt the state’s preferred religion.
Previous legal battles over religious displays in public institutions, including a notable 1980 Supreme Court case, have often ruled such requirements as unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Stone v. Graham struck down a Kentucky law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in schools, citing that it lacked a secular legislative purpose and was inherently religious.
