Some lawmakers are trying to completely knock down the wall that should have remained unshakable between Church and State. Of course, if you were to ask them, that’s likely not how they will present their motivations.
One such politician is Republican state Superintendent Ryan Walters, the head of Oklahoma’s Education Department, who has partnered with the Heritage Foundation (the think tank behind Project 2025) on his mission to implement mandatory Bible studies in the state’s public schools. He and his supporters have either forgotten or not cared to remember the values embedded into the U.S. Constitution and reinforced in the laws present within the Oklahoma Constitution. Concerning the latter, Article 2, Section 5 in specific states:
“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”
This year, Walters made it known that the state intended for all Oklahoma public schools to be required to teach their students the Bible. It is therefore ironic, if not almost paradoxical that, as it was reported on Oct. 4, 2024, Walters’ bid specifications state the chosen Bible version must include the Pledge of Allegiance and the U.S. Constitution. According to this logic, students, independent of religious beliefs, will have mandatory Bible studies imposed on them, and later learn in the U.S. Constitution that that’s unconstitutional, as the people behind this bid are trampling all over the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Thankfully, a group of Oklahomans, including legitimately worried parents, said “nuh-uh” and took the matter to court.
Freedom of religion cannot exist without freedom from religion
In its bid, the Oklahoma Department of Education requested “the purchase of 55,000 King James Version Bibles with The United States Pledge of Allegiance, The U.S. Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, and The U.S. Bill of Rights documents included.”
People of fair intelligence looked at the proposal, scratched their heads, and likely took little time to realize what version of the Bible that is being sold out there fits the bill: The God Bless the USA Bible, which has been endorsed by none other than self-professed Bible-lover Donald Trump.
The description for one of the special editions of the $60 book reads: “This beautiful God Bless The USA Bible has been custom embossed to in remembrance of the day that God intervened during President Donald J. Trump’s assassination attempt.”
In response to this, and the fact that, on Sept. 26, Walters requested a whopping $3 million in funds to acquire these Bibles, thirty-two “parents, their minor children, teachers, and clergy” filed an application legally pushing back against Walters’ “Immediate Implementation of Foundational Texts in Curriculum” memorandum. The introduction to the petition reads:
“The Mandate interferes with the parents’ ability to direct the religious and moral upbringing of their children. The children themselves face coercive instruction on religion in their public schools that is contrary to their own beliefs. The teachers must present to their students religious doctrines to which the teachers and many students do not subscribe, or face losing their teaching licenses. And the spending of state funds to purchase Bibles diverts the tax payments of all the adult petitioners from proper uses to the support of a single religious tradition.”
Republicans often preach about freedom of choice, freedom of speech, and freedom for parents to have a say in their children’s education. One example is Governor Ron DeSantis’ “The Parental Rights in Education Act,” colloquially and rightfully known as the “Don’t Say Gay” Act. Therefore, it is fair to say that some Republicans like Walters and DeSantis are fine with parents having control over their children’s education as long as this education aligns with their own beliefs and worldview, everything else, is “dangerous ideology.”
