Oklahoma State Superintendent Announces All Schools Must Integrate Bible and Ten Commandments into Curriculum

CNN
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All Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments into their curriculum, effective immediately, the state education director announced in a memorandum Thursday.

At a meeting of the State Board of Education, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said the Bible is “one of the most fundamental documents used to the Constitution and the birth of our country.”

“It’s clear to us that in Oklahoma’s academic standards under Title 70, repeatedly, the Bible is a historical document that is necessary to teach our children the history of this country, to have a full understanding of Western civilization, to have an understanding of the foundations of our legal system,” Walters said.

Every classroom in the state, grades 5 through 12, must have a Bible and all teachers must teach from the Bible in the classroom, Walters said.

The Oklahoma memorandum follows a law passed in Louisiana on June 19 that requires all public classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. A group of Louisiana parents and civil rights organizations are suing the state over the new law, claiming the legislation violates both U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the First Amendment.

Oklahoma’s directive “is consistent with educational standards approved circa May 2019, with which all districts must comply,” according to a press release.

“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone,” Walters said in the statement. “Without a foundational knowledge, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundations of our nation. This is not just a curricular directive, but a critical step in ensuring our students understand the core values ​​and historical context of our country.”

Interfaith Alliance, a national organization that seeks to protect religious freedoms, told CNN in a statement Thursday: “This is blatant religious coercion that should have absolutely no place in public schools — in Oklahoma or in any other State. »

“True religious freedom means that no religious group is allowed to impose its views on all Americans. The vast majority of people of faith in this country reject these dangerous and intimidating efforts to impose a Christian nationalist agenda in our schools, our courts, and our government,” the statement said.

The new memo comes after the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked an effort to establish the nation’s first religious public charter school. The court on Tuesday ordered the state to cancel its contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, in a 6-2 decision with one recusal.

“Under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school,” Justice James R. Winchester wrote for the court. “As such, a charter school must be nonsectarian. However, St. Isidore will evangelize the Catholic faith as part of its curriculum while being sponsored by the state.”

Walters called the decision “one of the worst” decisions ever made by the state Supreme Court and vowed to “fight back.”

“What the court did was rule against Oklahoma parents who demanded more choices for their children. We have a great opportunity to make sure that parents have the most options of any parent in the country here in Oklahoma, giving them the opportunity to go to a public school, charter schools, private schools. This would have been the most unique charter. school in the country,” Walters said.

“So I want you all to know that we will continue to fight this, that we want to continue to provide parents with the opportunity to send their children to high-quality schools.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) welcomed the decision, saying: “Charter schools are public schools that must be secular and serve all students. St. Isidore Catholic Virtual School in Seville, which plans to discriminate against students, families and staff and indoctrinate students into a religion, cannot operate as a public charter school. »

This is a developing story and will be updated.