Oklahoma education head discusses why he’s mandating public schools teach the Bible

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• Amna Nawaz:

  A new directive from Oklahoma's top education official requires all public schools to teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments starting in the fall.

  Stephanie Sy has the details.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Amna, just weeks after Louisiana law mandated the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, Oklahoma is now requiring the Bible's inclusion in lesson plans, not only in studying history or comparative religions, but — quote — "ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country."

  For more, we're joined by the author of this new directive, Oklahoma's state superintendent of public education, Ryan Walters.

  Superintendent Walters, welcome to the "NewsHour."

  Let's start with this new directive. Your memorandum says — quote — "Effective immediately, all Oklahoma schools are required to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support." It also says: "Immediate and strict compliance is expected."

  Sir, what does compliance mean? Because that's wide open for interpretation. It could mean referencing how Shakespeare employs Scripture in his plays, or it could mean memorizing Bible verses. Which is it, and are teachers going to be able to decide for themselves?

  Ryan Walters, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction: Well, thanks for the question there.

  We have issued this guidance, and we are issuing additional guidance to classroom on specificity in the upcoming weeks. So we have standards that are in place that talk about that our teachers are to teach the role religion played in the classroom. We have since seen that they are not doing that. They are not talking about in their classroom the role that the Bible played in American history.

  So we will be offering additional guidance to districts that they will have to comply with, which is to ensure the teaching of our standards and the role the Bible played in American history, dating back pre-Constitution, whether it's Mayflower Compact, the pilgrims, all the way up through Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights movement, where he repeatedly quotes the Bible as a directive for what he's trying to do there.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Your critics charged that this is a clear violation not only of parental rights, but of the Constitution.

  Here's what Rachel Laser with Americans United for Separation of Church and State had to say.

  Rachel Laser, President and CEO, Americans United for Separation of Church and State: It's not about teaching religion as an inspiration for literature at times or art, which is — and that's all permissible — or teaching comparative religion.

  This is about claiming the Christian nationalist myth that America is a Christian country. And this is also about preaching, and not teaching, because when Ryan Walters announced the policy, he made clear that he was requiring teachers to have the Bible in every classroom and — quote — "to teach from it." That's not education. That's indoctrination. And it's unconstitutional.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Superintendent Walters, the Bible is not banned in any schools. It's allowed to be taught already in Oklahoma schools.

  And yet your own Constitution says the schools should be open to all children and free from sectarian control. Given the Oklahoma Supreme Court's recent decision against publicly funding a religious charter school, do you think this policy will remain, or are you just making a political point?

• Ryan Walters:

  Yes, the left, they can be offended, they can be mad, they can be upset, but what they can't do is they can't rewrite history.

  We are going to show the countless citations. The Bible was cited more than any other document in the 1600s, 1700s' political writings. It is clearly a momentous historical source. We will bring it back to our schools.

  And, look, we will continue to battle. We feel very confident in President Trump's nominees to the U.S. that, if we can — if we get sued and we get challenged, we will be victorious, because the Supreme Court justices he appointed actually are originalists that look at the Constitution and not what some left-wing professor said about the Constitution.

  So we feel very confident in it moving forward and winning every legal case.

• Stephanie Sy:

  For the record, the Constitution itself does not mention God or Jesus or Christian in its text.

  But going back to your memo, you also say immediate and strict compliance. Immediate and strict compliance is expected. What do you mean immediate? Is every teacher expected to understand how to teach what trained theologians like Dr. King spent their lives trying to interpret? Are you going to have Bible classes for teachers? And what if they don't comply? What happens?

• Ryan Walters:

  Well, first, you made an absurd assumption there, which is the Declaration of Independence and our rights come from our creator. That was a distinct change in a world history there.

  And, also, the separation of church and state appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or Constitution. So you all continue to cite people who say that obviously don't know what they're talking about.

  And what we're going to continue to do is we're going to make sure our kids know history. They're going to see citations. They're going to see quotations. They're going to see directly from individuals who said the Bible impacted their decision-making. That is in our standards. If teachers don't want to teach it, they are compelled to teach it, or they can find another job.

  You don't get to pick and choose what standards you teach, the same way, if a teacher came in and said, I don't want to teach the civil rights movement. Well, it's in our standards, so you're going to have to find another job.

  We will make sure that our kids in Oklahoma understand American history. We will not be censored by left-wing extremists who don't want the Bible mentioned in our classroom. And that's what we will continue to do here.

• Stephanie Sy:

  What is the real goal here? When you talk about core values, what do you mean? Because critics believe measures like this lead to more division and hate. And, in schools, that could mean bullying or ostracizing certain students.

• Ryan Walters:

  Yes, that's an absurd assumption.

  We have been very clear what our goal was here. It's for our kids understand American history. The left has been at war with the Bible in schools. They have removed the Bible from schools. It is academically, incredibly — it is — honestly, it is incredible to have an academic course on U.S. history and not include the Bible's influence in American history.

  So we will continue to fix that, so that our kids understand this country, understand why the founders designed it in the way that they did and understand the role that the Bible played in American history. And, frankly, it's the number one bestselling book in American history. If that doesn't meet a test to be in a classroom for its literary value or its historical relevance, I don't know what book would meet that criteria.

• Stephanie Sy:

  That is the superintendent of public education in Oklahoma, Ryan Walters.

  Mr. Walters, thanks for joining the "NewsHour."