OKLAHOMA CITY – Aaron Baker, preparing for his 13th year as a teacher, notices the religious symbols that appear in his high school political science class.
The Christian crucifix, along with a Taoist yin yang, a Shinto torii, and an Islamic star and crescent share space on his classroom walls. Now he’s considering adding a Bible.
Oklahoma’s top education official issued an order over the summer requiring that Oklahoma classrooms from fifth to 12th grade include the Bible in their curriculum. The Bible is already allowed to be taught in Oklahoma schools, although state law says a certain level of “religious neutrality” must be maintained. But Republican State School Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a June 27 order that every teacher must have a Bible in their classroom and teach from it.
The various religious symbols hanging in Aaron Baker’s classroom. Photo courtesy of Baker
In an additional directive in late July, weeks before classes resumed in some districts, Walters said every teacher in Oklahoma should keep printed copies of the Bible, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Ten Commandments as source materials in “every classroom in a school district.”
Walters also had a warning for teachers: Teach the Bible or face the consequences.
“Some educators in Oklahoma have indicated that they will not comply with Oklahoma law and standards. So let me be clear: They will comply, and I will use every means possible to ensure that they do.”
Yet at the start of the new school year, several of the state’s largest school districts said they would dictate what is taught in Oklahoma classrooms and would not change their curriculum.
Although Walters said teachers who did not comply with the order could have their licenses revoked, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office clarified that the authority to set curriculum rests with school districts, not state school superintendents.
Baker said he felt he was well-equipped to give world religions the proper context in his teaching, having earned a degree in theology and attended seminary before deciding to become a teacher in his mid-30s.
He worries about whether Walters is giving others the green light to preach instead of teaching.
“Walters has prayed in schools on camera and is now making the Bible part of the curriculum. It’s a sensitive issue,” Baker said. “I think some teachers and principals at other schools are seeing this and saying, ‘OK, now I can proselytize too.'”
Walters’ order sparked an immediate backlash from parents, lawmakers and church-state separation advocates who viewed the move as an overreach of Walters’ powers and potentially a violation of the U.S. Constitution. In his latest order, Walters added that the Bible could not be used for “religious purposes” such as preaching, proselytizing or indoctrination.
Oklahoma State Secretary of Education Ryan Walters discusses the accreditation status of Tulsa Public Schools during a school board meeting last week. Photo by Adam Kemp/PBS NewsHour
Rick Cobb, superintendent of the Mid-Del School District in southeast Oklahoma City since 2015, said his staff at Midwest City and Del City schools are not planning to change the curriculum.
“Our teachers follow the state standards,” Cobb said. “We follow the law and that means we teach the academic standards. This has nothing to do with being ‘woke.’ It’s about letting our teachers, who are professionals, do what they can in the classroom.”
Oklahoma City Public Schools also issued guidelines on its curriculum before the start of the new school year. The school district advised teachers to document detailed lesson plans and not deviate from district-approved teaching materials.
“Our goal is to provide a balanced, objective approach that respects diverse faiths by adhering to both state requirements and federal laws and regulations,” OKCPS Superintendent Jamie Polk said in a statement. “(The Bible) is not to be used for preaching or indoctrination.”
Cobb also questioned why the rule was even necessary when schools across the state are facing much more pressing problems, such as safety concerns at school events, low teacher retention and inadequate pay, and concerns that student hunger is contributing to lower grades and test scores.
Oklahoma’s order is in line with other conservative efforts around the country to incorporate religion more into the curriculum. Weeks before Walters’ order, Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.
Allyson Shortle, a professor at the University of Oklahoma who studies group identity in the context of religion and national identity, said Walters is using the tactics of Christian nationalism with the ultimate goal of devaluing the state’s public schools to the point where people are forced to look for private religious schools.
“There was a very organized effort to abolish the Department of Education and create a privatized education system,” she said. “Walters is trying to degrade our education system to the point where we will be left with a privatized education system and we will not have access to a vibrant public education system.”
In an interview with PBS News Hour last month, Walters claimed that educators were not teaching “the role the Bible has played in American history.”
Watch the segment in the player above.
“The left has fought against the Bible in schools, they have banned the Bible from schools,” he said. “We will continue to change that so that our children understand this country.”
Earlier this week, Libs of TikTok, whose account on X focuses on far-right and anti-LGBTQ+ messages, cited President Donald Trump’s promise to shut down the Department of Education if re-elected, something the former president pushed for in his live conversation with Elon Musk on Monday.
“It can’t happen fast enough,” Walters said on X in response to Libs’ TikTok post.
For Baker, Walters’ order is another step in the continued persecution of teachers in Oklahoma.
Since his 2022 election victory, Walters has pushed anti-trans policies, advocated for a ban on pro-LGBTQ+ books, hired a conservative nonprofit to develop a social studies curriculum for Oklahoma schools, and threatened to crack down on teachers in the state who dare to oppose his policies in any way.
“This is all very dizzying,” Baker said of the order. “Sometimes I feel like I’m expecting myself to be worse mentally than I am, because sometimes I’m fine even though it feels like our world is burning.”
Baker is thinking about lesson plans on world religions and how to teach Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and its urgent message for racial equality and social justice.
He is confident that he has the expertise needed to teach on this subject and place the teachings in the correct historical context.
He fears that this is not the purpose of the order.
