With no regard to law, Walters takes stab at bringing pulpit into Oklahoma schools
With no regard to law, Walters takes stab at bringing pulpit into Oklahoma schools
Ryan Walters went full priest, pastor, right reverend and deacon during Thursday’s state board of education meeting.
Or maybe it was before the meeting, because the decision had already been made, the memorandum had already been written, the policy already decided to direct “all Oklahoma schools … to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum across specified grade levels, e.g., grades 5 through 12.
“This directive is in alignment with the educational standards approved on or about May 2019, with which all districts must comply.”*
*All right, I can’t let this go, but doubly unconstitutional policy aside, can we make two points about that ridiculous statement?
One, e.g. is commonly a stand-in for “for example.” So, the statement is telling schools they must comply with the directive “across specified grade levels, for example, grades 5 through 12.”
For example?
Let me get this straight, Walters is not saying grades 5 through 12 must comply, only that they’re examples of grades that might have to comply?
Tell me that’s not what his words actually mean.
So perhaps there’s no problem. Any grades, 5 though 12, might be subject to such a directive, yet no grades, explicitly, are?
Two, the directive is “in alignment with the educational standards approved on or about May 2019, with which all districts must comply.”
You don’t even know when the standards you’re attempting to tag this onto, approved PRIOR to your taking office, were actually put in place?
On or about “May” could be anytime from March to July.
Lazy, much?
Oh, yeah, almost forgot.
We know where the Ten Commandments come from, but thanks for clearing that up.
Once again, it must be asked, this is our state superintendent of public instruction?
I can’t decide if Walters really wants to teach the Bible in public school classrooms despite the clear unconstitutionality of the position, or if he just wants to pick a new fight to remain relevant because he can no longer spend taxpayer money on a relevance quest.
Or maybe he made a big bet he could get his name into both the New York Times and Washington Post before the weekend was done, which he’s already accomplished.
Or, just maybe, Walters’ real play is drawing attorney general Gentner Drummond into the fray, baiting him for an opinion on his plan’s unconstitutionality and then, when he meets Drummond in a gubernatorial primary, he can accuse him of being anti-Bible and anti-Christian.
He’s probably not smart enough to think that far ahead, but perhaps Dr. Evil, Matt Langston, drawing an Oklahoma paycheck in Texas, is.
The rest of the directive:
The Bible is one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments. They will be referenced as an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like, as well as for their substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution. This is not merely an educational directive but a crucial step in ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country.
Additionally, the State Department of Education may supply teaching materials for the Bible, as permissible, to ensure uniformity in delivery.
Adherence to this mandate is compulsory. Further instructions for monitoring and reporting on this implementation for the 2024/25 school year will be forthcoming.
Immediate and strict compliance is expected.
What could go wrong?
Perhaps it’s worth mentioning the Founding Fathers were not necessarily Christian — like, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and Monroe were deists, which you might want to look up, because it’s the antithesis of Walters’ Christian Nationalism — nor is Christianity or the Bible mentioned in the Constitution and, oh, yeah, the Oklahoma state constitution, on matters of faith and education, says this:
Provisions shall be made for the establishment and maintenance of a system of public schools, which shall be open to all the children of the state and free from sectarian control; and said schools shall always be conducted in English: Provided, that nothing herein shall preclude the teaching of other languages in said public schools.
Perhaps there’s a world in which putting a Bible in the classroom is not one bit about doctrine, a world in which it sits alongside the Quran, the Talmud, perhaps The Book of Mormon and other religious texts and, with them, you really could teach a course in comparative religion, or spend a week or on them in world history, which I took only one year, my junior year at McGuinness. But in no world you’re putting it in front of fifth graders forward is that the case, especially when the state education department “may supply teaching materials for the Bible, as permissible, to ensure uniformity in delivery.”
Uniformity?
Thanks, groomer.
Of course, Walters’ directive should be killed before the state supreme court even has to rule on its constitutionality.
Didn’t we just learn new rules coming down from the education department can’t be implemented by fiat, but must first be asked for from the legislature?
For that matter, how can a state superintendent add a rider onto something that went through “on or near May 2019” before he ever took office?
Let us hope Drummond continues to do his job, that state and federal courts know what religious liberty really is and really isn’t, that one or many school districts will sue Walters for whatever they decide to sue him for and that T-shirts begin to be made with the words “American Taliban” next to Walters’ dumb mug, because how is he not that, trying to force his, if they even are his, religious beliefs down the throats of Oklahoma children?
He’s not the Pope and even if he were he still could not to this.
His motivation — religious whack job with no respect for constitutions, state and federal, or a super-cynical, way-in-advance political shot against his highest-ranking rival — remains in question and still, either way, he must be stopped.
At the ballot box, eventually.
By all legal means, every single day.