Oklahoma’s top education official, State Superintendent Ryan Walters, is collaborating with country music star Lee Greenwood to raise donations for the distribution of $59.99 leather-bound “God Bless the USA” Bibles in classrooms across the state. This comes after a legislative panel rejected Walters’ $3 million funding request for the initiative.
Walters emphasized that the Bible is essential for understanding Western civilization, American exceptionalism, and history. He criticized efforts to remove the Bible from classrooms, framing them as an attack on the nation’s foundation.
Walters had previously pushed for a mandate requiring public schools to incorporate Bible teachings into their curriculum for students in grades 5 through 12, which led to a lawsuit filed by a group of parents and teachers. Despite the mandate, many schools have disregarded it.
This directive is part of a broader push by conservative-led states to influence public education. For example, Louisiana has mandated that the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, while other states face growing pressure to incorporate Bible teachings and ban lessons and books related to race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court halted an effort to create the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. This case is now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ryan Walters, who was elected as Oklahoma’s education chief in 2022, campaigned on a platform focused on opposing what he sees as “woke ideology,” banning books from school libraries, and removing “radical leftists” from classrooms whom he accuses of indoctrinating students.
However, even some of his Republican colleagues seem to be growing frustrated with Walters’ divisive approach. In addition to a legislative committee rejecting his $3 million request for Bibles, Governor Kevin Stitt recently dismissed Walters’ proposal to collect immigration status data from students.
When asked about Walters’ Bible mandate, Stitt pointed to a popular Bible app developed by Oklahoma pastor Bobby Gruenewald, suggesting that many students likely already have access to the Bible through the app on their phones.