OKLAHOMA CITY: The state of Oklahoma has ordered all schools to start incorporating the Bible into lessons.
The state’s chief school official, Superintendent Ryan Walters, said the rule was mandatory, requiring strict and immediate compliance. He said the new rule will apply to lessons for all public school students aged from around 11-18.
Walters, in a statement, described the Bible as an indispensable cultural and historical touchstone. He added without basic knowledge of the Bible, students of Oklahoma are unable to properly contextualise the foundation of the American nation.
Walters, a former school teacher, was elected to the post in 2022 after campaigning on a platform of eliminating radical leftists from the education system of Oklahoma.
The announcement has drawn wide criticism from civil rights organisations and groups that advocate for a strict separation of state and church.
Earlier, Walters had argued that secularists in the US have created a state religion out of atheism, by driving faith away from the public square.
In a statement, the Interfaith Alliance, a US group that wants to protect religious freedom termed the directive of the Oklahoma superintendent as blatant religious coercion.
The development comes a week after Louisiana ordered all classrooms up to the university level in the state to display a poster of the Ten Commandments.
