Oklahoma’s education system finds itself at the center of a heated debate after the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, issued a directive requiring public schools in the state to integrate Bible lessons into their curriculum. The directive, described by Walters as compulsory with immediate effect, targets public school students aged 11-18 and aims to provide what he terms as essential historical and cultural grounding. His announcement covers grades 5 to 12.
Walters, a former public school history teacher, was elected to his post in 2022 after campaigning on a platform opposing “woke ideology.” He defended the move as necessary for students to understand the nation’s foundational principles. In a statement on Thursday, Mr Walters described the Bible as “an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone.”
“Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualise the foundation of our nation, which is why Oklahoma educational standards provide for its instruction,” he added.
Mr Walters has previously argued that secularists in the US have created a state religion out of atheism, by driving faith away from the public square.
In an op-ed last year, he wrote that US President Joe Biden and the teacher unions had replaced biblical values with “woke, anti-education values that tell students that they should treat their classmates differently depending on their race and sex and that they should be taught graphic sexual content at a young of an age as possible”.
Critics, however, argue that the directive blurs the line between church and state, with civil rights organisations condemning it as a form of religious coercion.
“Public schools are not Sunday schools,” Rachel Laser, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement quoted by AP news agency. “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,” she added.
The Interfaith Alliance, an American organisation dedicated to safeguarding religious freedoms, labeled the Oklahoma superintendent’s directive as “clear religious coercion.” The statement added, “True religious freedom means ensuring that no one religious group is allowed to impose their viewpoint on all Americans.”
The directive comes on the heels of a similar controversial move in Louisiana, where a law mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in all public schools, even up to university level. Nine families in the state already sued Louisiana, with civil rights groups saying that the display violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, and that the display “pressures” students into adopting the state’s favoured religion.
As the debate intensifies, stakeholders brace for a potentially protracted legal battle over the boundaries of religious expression in public education.
Melissa Enoch
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