Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters released guidelines on the state’s controversial Bible mandate in public schools on Wednesday.
In June, Walters ordered educators for grades 5 through 12 to incorporate the Bible into their lessons, arguing that the Bible is necessary to ensure “students grasp the core values and historical context of our country,” he said in a statement at the time.
The order was followed by an intense backlash from civil liberties groups and the Oklahoma Education Association – a collective of educators, administrators and other school employees.
The new guidelines require educators to incorporate the Bible by looking at “only its historical, literary and secular benefits” by noting the Bible’s influence on Western civilization, American history, literature, art and music.
I’m down as long as it’s presented in a comparative religions kind of way. If the guidelines don’t specifically say not to talk about other religions and/or nonreligious ideologies, make sure to throw in some material on Islam, pagan religions like Wicca, indigenous American religions, Hoodoo, Buddhism, etc.
And, as others have said, don’t just teach what casts Christianity or the Bible (or any of those other religions, for that matter) in a positive light. Talk about the KKK and abortion clinic bombings and the red scare and how bonkers the country went right after 9/11.