Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters has ordered educators in the state to teach the Bible, the latest in a long list of actions by state leaders seeking to test the limits of separation of church and state in public schools.
Walters, who has built a national profile as an outspoken critic of “woke brainwashing,” sent the memo on June 27. Directed state school district superintendents to integrate the Bible into classrooms in grades 5 through 12, calling it “one of the most important books in history and a cornerstone of Western civilization.”
“This is not just a teaching guideline, but an important step in ensuring that students understand our country’s core values and historical context,” Walters wrote, later adding that “immediate and strict compliance is expected.”
The guidance follows recent actions by conservative state officials regarding religion in public schools, most recently when Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill requiring all public schools to post a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.The bill was later challenged in court by civil liberties groups.
Supporters of these state measures argue that they are not merely religious and therefore constitutional. Opponents call them canaries in the coal mine, testing how far leaders can push religious texts and practices into public education.
Like previous decisions, Walter's directive was almost immediately criticized by groups that advocate for pluralism and religious minorities.
“This is textbook Christian nationalism. Walters is abusing his office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else’s children,” Rachel Reiser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement. “Not as long as we have oversight.”
Here are three examples of recent state actions related to religion and education that have sparked controversy.
1. Command to teach the Bible in public schools
At the June 27 State Board of Education meeting, Walters presented her Biblical guidelines, denouncing a recent decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that deemed plans for Catholic-run charter schools to have violated the state and federal constitutions.
“You will not find separation of church and state in the Constitution,” he said during the livestreamed meeting. “It’s not there.”
He structured the Bible requirements in a way that complied with the state's learning standards. Religious books provide the foundational knowledge needed to understand the founding of the nation, the Federalist Papers, the writings of Martin Luther King Jr., ethics and comparative religion, Walters said. His memo said the state could provide schools with materials to teach the Bible “to ensure uniformity of delivery,” and that additional guidance would follow for “monitoring and reporting on implementation.”
![Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters chairs a special state education committee meeting to discuss education issues from the U.S. Department of Education. "Proposed changes to Title IX regulations for student athletic team eligibility" April 12, 2023 in Oklahoma City.](https://epe.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3a93eeb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1440x960+0+0/resize/335x223!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fepe-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F3b%2Ffe%2Fd93b9c01463284de4462cd1de7e7%2F100923-ryan-walters-ap-bs.jpg)
The court ruled that schools can teach the Bible along with other texts on an academic level, but not on a devotional level. Although Walters appeared to frame his instructions in academic terms, critics were skeptical because he did not mention his past history of supporting conservative Christian causes such as prayer in schools and other important religious texts woven through literature and history. Torah and Quran.
“It’s a very troubling step toward a state imposition of religion,” said James W. Frazier, professor of history and education at New York University and pastor emeritus of Grace Church in East Boston, Massachusetts.
The Oklahoma directive and other state decisions come during a divisive election year and “a time of extraordinary social, cultural and religious change,” Fraser said, a time when religious diversity is growing along with a trend toward Americans not identifying as religious at all.
“It is not surprising that as Christianity, and especially Protestantism, ceases to be the majority, the thinking becomes, 'If you can't win the hearts and minds of the people, at least force them.'”
2. Authorizing public schools to hire religious priests
Three states—Louisiana, Florida and Texas—have passed laws authorizing schools to hire or recruit religious chaplains as volunteers.
“Religious leaders and civic groups are important additional resources for students who are facing challenges or need to build community and camaraderie.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said in a statement April 18 when he signed the pastor's bill: “I’m excited to expand the variety of options students have at school, and I have no doubt these options will enhance their experience.”
Texas' school chaplain law, enacted in June 2023, required all school districts to take a recorded vote on whether to adopt a school chaplain policy. The law allows schools to use a portion of state funds to pay chaplains or work in schools on a volunteer basis for school safety and child welfare. There are no restrictions on the religion of chaplains schools may employ.
The law gives school districts discretion in selecting chaplains and determining their participation in school programs. During debate on the bill, lawmakers rejected an amendment that would have banned school chaplains from preaching. They also rejected language requiring parental approval for students to receive counseling from a chaplain, as is included in some other states' chaplaincy bills.
Supporters of school chaplaincy systems say they will help schools address growing concerns about students' mental health and a shortage of school counselors and social workers.
“If you’re dealing with a crisis, and parents are handling it well, and you have similar beliefs, you couldn’t find a better person,” Cody Mize, superintendent of schools in Mineola, Texas, told a local news station. CBS19 After the school board voted to approve the pastor policy, “I think it’s a great benefit for our kids to be able to work with people of the same faith.”
Critics, including faith-related groups such as the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty, argue that it is not the role of public schools to promote students' spiritual formation. They argued that chaplaincy bills that have been considered or passed in at least 15 states have few requirements for who is qualified to serve as chaplains and few provisions to protect students from feeling religious coercion.
“These are public schools. They are one of the great institutions we have left where people of all backgrounds can come together, and we do our best to deliver equal dignity in that space,” Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a former Princeton University campus pastor and president and CEO of the Interfaith Alliance, said during Education Week in March.. “This is disturbing it.”
3. Require public schools to display religious books
Louisiana's new Ten Commandments law requires all public schools and colleges in the state to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom by January 1. Lawmakers in Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia have all filed similar bills, Education Week reported earlier this month.
Likewise, Louisiana joined 17 states last year that require or explicitly allow schools to display the national motto, “In God We Trust.” On the classroom wall.
“This country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and whenever we deviate from those principles, we have problems in our country,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, said in a June 21 interview with Fox News.
!["We trust in God" This is the phrase seen on the wall at South Park Elementary School in Rapid City, South Dakota, on July 23, 2019. When students return to public schools across South Dakota this fall, a new message will be displayed in common areas, cafeterias, entryways or other prominent locations. A new state law that went into effect this month requires all public schools in the state's 149 school districts to display the national motto, whether by painting, stenciling or otherwise. "We believe in God." South Dakota lawmakers who proposed the bill say it is intended to promote patriotism in the state's public schools.](https://epe.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8f179d5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1440x960+0+0/resize/335x223!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fepe-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fe6%2F1f%2F182cad2f4639baeaf552b4d4e525%2F080323-in-god-we-trust-ap-bs.jpg)
The Bible describes Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God through a revelation on Mount Sinai. Moses, whom Landry described as the “original legislator,” is depicted on the wall of the U.S. Supreme Court, he said. (Features of the building Confucius, Solon, and a scene from the Iliad are also depicted.) The Ten Commandments are part of understanding the history of American law, Landry argued.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar Kentucky law in a 1980 case. absent V. graham The court ruled that the state's mandatory display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from establishing religion.
To comply with the Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court ruled: Government activities should have secular purposes and should not “unduly entangle” state and religion.
Supporters of Louisiana's new law argue that it has a purpose beyond promoting religion, while the plaintiffs filed a June 25 federal lawsuit. They argue that this violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is unfair to students from religious minorities and non-religious backgrounds.
“The state’s primary concern in passing HB 71 was to impose religious beliefs on public school children, regardless of the harm they cause to students and families,” the lawsuit states, adding that the plaintiffs include clergy and families from a variety of religious backgrounds. Included. “Representative Dodie Horton, the bill’s primary sponsor and author, declared during debate on the bill, ‘We want to expose God’s law to our classrooms so children can see that God’s Word is right and wrong.’”