Oklahoma Loosens Rules for Mandatory Classroom Bibles

The good news is that schools won't be forced to stock Trump-endorsed Bibles. The bad news is that they're still being forced to supply Bibles.

Oklahoma public schools will soon be required to stock Bibles in classrooms—though they may no longer end up having to supply a Donald Trump–endorsed copy of the text.

In June, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters announced his plan to require schools to stock Bibles in classrooms and incorporate the Bible and Ten Commandments into curriculum.

"Every teacher, every classroom in the state will have a Bible in the classroom and will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom," Walters said, "to ensure that this historical understanding is there for every student in the state of Oklahoma."

In a memo laying out his order to schools, Walters further explained that scripture "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."

The announcement was almost immediately met with backlash from critics who saw Walters' move as an unabashed attempt to force religious instruction in schools. It isn't entirely clear whether Walters' directive violates the Establishment Clause, as limited, contextually appropriate discussion of religious texts is already broadly considered legal. The memo pushes "the edge of the envelope," Andrew C. Spiropoulos, a constitutional law professor at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, told The New York Times in June. "By singling it out as a proposal standing alone, that could be legally problematic."

That wasn't the end of the controversy over Walters' directive. Last month, Walters requested a total of $6 million to purchase the 55,000 Bibles needed for Oklahoma classrooms. Earlier this month, The Oklahoman reported that the state's request for proposal (RFP) guidelines—directing how manufacturers should bid for the state's contract to supply the Bibles—were so restrictive that almost no Bibles currently in circulation would meet the criteria. The guidelines required that the Bible be a King James Version of the text bound alongside "copies of The United States Pledge of Allegiance, The U.S. Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, and The U.S. Bill of Rights." The Bible also had to be bound in a "leather or leather-like material."

One popular Christian bookstore told The Oklahoman that not one of the 2,900 Bibles it carries would meet the requirements. In all, The Oklahoman found just two Bibles that met the strict requirements: Both were endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Both Bibles are far more expensive than typical versions of the text, coming in at $60 and $90.

"It appears to me that this bid is anything but competitive," former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson told The Oklahoman. "It adds to the basic specification other requirements that have nothing to do with the text. The special binding and inclusion of government documents will exclude almost all bidders. If the bid specs exclude most bidders unnecessarily, I could consider that a violation."

In response to a flood of new criticism over the RFP's apparent Trump-favoring design, the Oklahoma Department of Education released an updated RFP last week. The new guidelines allow the copies of American founding documents to be provided separately from the Bible. While this update could pave the way for a cheaper Bible to enter Oklahoma's classrooms, the mandate itself is still a bizarre, cynical attempt at religious culture warring—one that could cost taxpayers millions.

"If we get sued and we get challenged, we will be victorious, because the Supreme Court justices [Donald Trump] appointed actually are originalists that look at the Constitution and not what some left-wing professor said about the Constitution," Walters told PBS News in July. "The separation of church and state appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or Constitution."