Oklahoma will require schools to teach the Bible and have a copy in every classroom, the state\u2019s top education official announced Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effective immediately, Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible as part of the curricula in grades five through 12, according to a memo<\/a> Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters sent to all school districts. Schools are instructed to refer to the Bible and the Ten Commandments for their \u201csubstantial influence on our nation\u2019s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cImmediate and strict compliance is expected,\u201d the memo noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Walters said at a state Board of Education meeting Thursday, \u201cWe\u2019ll be teaching from the Bible in the classroom to ensure that this historical understanding is there for every student in the state of Oklahoma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit civil liberties group, said in a statement that Walters\u2019 new Bible policy is \u201ctrampling the religious freedom of public school children and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is textbook Christian Nationalism: Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else\u2019s children,\u201d Rachel Laser, the group\u2019s CEO, said in the statement. Her organization is \u201cready to step in,\u201d she wrote, though she stopped short of vowing legal action. The group has already sued to block a new Louisiana law<\/a> requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walters, a former high school history teacher, has built a national profile<\/a> over his first year and a half in office as a staunch proponent of incorporating Christian beliefs<\/a> and teachings into state education policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, recently approved a package<\/a> of regulations put forward by Walters that included time for prayer in schools and expanded the state Education Department\u2019s \u201cfoundational values<\/a>\u201d to acknowledge a \u201cCreator\u201d and the existence of good and evil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Walters has also drawn pushback. Stitt issued an executive order<\/a> this month prohibiting state agencies from entering into sole-source contracts with marketing and public relations firms after Walters hired a public relations firm at $200 per hour to help him get national media attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The state Supreme Court ruled this week that a state contract to fund a Catholic charter school violated both state and federal law<\/a> and must be voided. It would have been the country\u2019s first religious charter school<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walters called the ruling \u201csanctioned discrimination against Christians\u201d in a statement. \u201cThis ruling cannot and must not stand,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n State Attorney General Gentner Drummond, also a conservative Republican, disagreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis decision is a tremendous victory for religious liberty,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThe framers of the U.S. Constitution and those who drafted Oklahoma\u2019s Constitution clearly understood how best to protect religious freedom: by preventing the State from sponsoring any religion at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n