Recently, Ryan Walters, the state superintendent of public instruction of Oklahoma, announced that he had purchased over 500 copies of the Bible to be taught in high schools and sent videos of himself praying for President-elect Donald Trump to be shown to public school students. This is in addition to a previous program that sought to purchase some 55,000 Bibles to be distributed to every public school classroom in the state of Oklahoma. Not only is this a travesty and mockery of the American education system and the separation between church and state, which is enshrined in our Constitution, but it is also a slap in the face to Christianity, which should not be taught by teachers who are wildly unprepared for the job.
Not only are Superintendent Walters’ actions opposed by several civil rights groups around the country, but they have also been criticized by many Christian groups within and outside of Oklahoma. Many deem his attempts to impose Christianity upon public schools as a dangerous breach of the duties of educational facilities, which are meant to educate everyone regardless of religion. This also brings into contention which Bible should be used in education. Christianity is a religion with many different and distinct branches. Catholics and Protestants have long fought over which version of the Bible should be used in schools.
Superintendent Walters’ publicity stunt warrants additional suspicion. His initial mandate for Bibles specifically calls for the King James Version of the Bible that is modified to include the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Some have speculated that this set of requirements is suspiciously in line with the brand of Bible that Trump has recently endorsed and makes royalties from. While Superintendent Walters has since rolled back these requirements, saying the historical documents could come separately, it didn’t prevent him from purchasing 500 of Trump’s editions of the Bible, which was shown being put into immediate use in his video.
As Superintendent Walters frivolously spends taxpayer money on Trump’s Bible at $60 a copy, Oklahoma’s public school system continues to remain in the gutters. U.S. News ranked Oklahoma No. 49 out of 50 for education, and WalletHub ranked Oklahoma dead last on education. So perhaps Superintendent Walters should be spending less time shopping for expensive Bibles and more time studying what he’s doing so catastrophically wrong with his job.
This is not an isolated incident. Republican leaders in Louisiana have called on schools to display the Christian Ten Commandments, while Republican politicians in Texas have proposed including biblical lessons in public schools. This is a direct violation of the Constitution as the Supreme Court has already ruled twice that there should be no religion in public schools. The repeated attempts to fold religion into public schools show a panic among religious Republicans at the continued decline of religiosity in America. If Republicans truly think that Christianity is the path to salvation, then they should be letting the word of Christ convince their fellow Americans instead of forcing it down some poor high schooler’s throat.
