OK schools head vows sanctions for teachers who won't teach the Bible
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
June 28, 2024, 10:23 PM UTCBy Tyler Kingkade and Marissa Parra
Oklahoma educators who refuse to teach students about the Bible could lose their teaching license, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said in an interview with NBC News on Friday.
Walters issued a memo Thursday instructing all Oklahoma schools to teach students in grades five through 12 about the Bible's influence on the nation's founding and historical American figures. Schools will also be required to stock a Bible in every classroom.
In an interview with NBC News, Walters said if a teacher refuses to follow the Bible instruction mandate, they'd face the same consequences as one who refuses to teach about the Civil War. The punishment could include revocation of their teaching license, he said, a process that requires a vote by the Oklahoma State Board of Education, which Walters chairs.
"Any teacher that would knowingly, willfully disobey the law and disobey our standards — there are repercussions for that," Walters said. "So we deal with that on a case-by-case basis, but yes, teachers have to teach Oklahoma Academic Standards and this is absolutely going to be part of them."
Walters' new rule on incorporating Bible instruction was immediately criticized by civil liberties and religious groups. The Jewish Federation of Tulsa and the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations both said in statements that Walters is inappropriately promoting Christianity in schools.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State also weighed in. "Walters is abusing the power of his public office to impose his religious beliefs on everyone else's children," the group said in an email, adding that it is "carefully assessing options."
The education department had been working on guidance on using the Bible in classrooms for nine months, Walters said. The agency focused on the Bible because it "is the book that's under assault," he said.
A spokesperson from the Oklahoma attorney general's office said in an email that existing law already allowed teachers to use Bibles in the classroom during instruction and that, "There is no legal authority for a memo from the Superintendent to require content."
Walters said he feels confident that his order will survive legal challenges because of the justices then-President Donald Trump appointed to the Supreme Court.
"He's helped provide a path for us to be able to do this as states," Walters said of Trump. He added that if Trump wins a second term in November, "it will help us move the ball forward, even more so than this."
Tyler Kingkade
Tyler Kingkade is a national reporter for NBC News, based in Los Angeles.
Marissa Parra
Marissa Parra is a national correspondent for NBC News based in Miami, Florida.
Carla Kakouris-Solarana contributed.
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MAGA Christian Nationalists are grooming our kids at school now!
So no Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. teachers in OK schools? Since this would violate their religious freedoms.
They want a theocracy
I saw comments from this asshole says this is a pushback against liberals. Liberals pay to send their children to private schools or religious schools if they choose to.
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
okie thumpers are teaching the boys incest, child molesting, and adultery, and the girls home ec and how to be midwives ...
Walters tried to provide $2.5M of public school funds to a Catholic HS. The OK Supreme Court shot that down 6 days ago
based on separation of Church and State.
Personally, this son of a ministers is a religious whack job. He befriended the governor years ago as a tennis buddy and
aside from a few years of teaching has no credentials to be the Superintendent of any school district let alone the entire state.
He's depending on the OK Supreme Court and the 10th Circuit to shoot him down.
He fully intends these cases to go to a SCOTUS he believes that God allowed Trump to stack for this purpose.
I don't believe that such a god would need to depend on such subterfuge.
Walter's is a real life religious zealot. Oklahoma voters eat that shit up!
MAGA!
"He befriended the the governor years ago as a tennis buddy...". Somebody should knock him into next week ! Whites can also be Uncle Toms !
Huh? Do you think of everything in a racial context?
You know nothing about Uncle Tom.
Huh, can you read ? The discussion is about white Christian nationalism. One of the three points of the MAGA folks. False churches, Bigotry and Greed ! When any religious zealot can validate his/her religion I'm ready . MAGA justifies their bigotry and greed with religious quackery and Trumps blessing !
I know all I need to know about Uncle Tom . I get the impression you know more about Uncle Tomism than you'd like to admit !
In my opinion, no.
Well, I did read the novel, have you?
That’s probably just your bias running away with you.
My goodness, aren't you exuberant?......
" probably your bias running away with you."[✘]
No one who is guilty of Uncle Tomism wants to admit it!
Well, some gods are better than others,
Baffling. I understand why they want it. The desire to do this is very old. But I am baffled as to why they think this will be ok.
Do Catholics want their kids indoctrinated as Southern Baptists?
Is the Pope Southern Baptist? The answer to both is definitely no!
Yeah, and I’m pretty sure that not only would this violate the US Constitution, it probably also violates the Oklahoma State Constitution.
Also,
meh, thumpers won't have any problems revising those old silly documents, ... because geezus...
Ryan Walters, American Taliban.
The bad news is that that is not hyperbolic!
It wasn't meant to be.
I think they should teach accurate translations of the Song of Songs in kindergarten. That should change the minds of the christofascists right quick.
LOL!
But then the teachers better be ready to answer uncomfortable questions
how are they going to teach the bible? I thought they banned all books that feature sex crimes and violence...
one word at a time
when will they start digging tunnels connecting all the theocratic states?
yeah, that'll happen...