Your support helps us to tell the story
Over the summer, Oklahoma ordered its public schools to begin teaching the Bible in every classroom. Now the state is being criticized for seeking to buy potentially millions of dollars worth of Bibles, with requirements that only seem to match Bibles endorsed by members of theTrump family.
As The Oklahoman reports, a request for proposals for selling 55,000 Bibles to the state issued on Monday specifies that the Bibles must be the King James version, feature the Old and New Testaments, and include American political documents like the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
Only a few commonly available Bibles fit the bill, according to the paper: the $60 God Bless the USA Bible, endorsed by Donald Trump, and the $90 We The People Bible, endorsed by Donald Trump, Jr.
Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair Alicia Andrews told the paper the plan seems designed to curry favor with the Trumps. Oklahoma superintendent Ryan Walters, the architect of the Bible initiative, has endorsed the Republican for president.
“For (Walters) to craft this RFP, to specifically identify this Bible, this document that the state taxpayers would spend money on, either is a dereliction of duty, a dereliction of stewardship or maybe it is a … signal to former President Trump: ‘Hey, hey, I’m on your team, sir,’” Andrews told The Oklahoman.
Walters office denied any political motives behind the request for proposals.
“Superintendent Walters has committed the agency to an open and transparent RFP process, consistent with the norms for state procurement, that will be adequate to meet the needs of Oklahoma classrooms,” Oklahoma Department of Education spokesperson Dan Isett told The Independent via email. “There are hundreds of Bible publishers and we expect a robust competition for this proposal. As the RFP is open and ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment while bids are being placed.”
In June, Walter ordered schools to begin teaching the Bible and keeping a physical copy of the Bible, U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Ten Commandments in every classrom.
The push to teach the Bible in Oklahoma has provoked controversy.
The education official has argued schools can teach the Bible without violating the separation of church and state because it is “one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments.”
Others have argued the move crosses the line, and is largely for show, since the state already allowed the Bible to be taught in schools.
Local officials like Rob Miller, superintendent of Bixby Public Schools, have argued local districts set their own curricula, and that mandating the Bible is inappropriate.
“The Oklahoma Supreme Court was very clear a few months ago in saying that local boards of education have the authority to choose curricular resources for teachers,” Miller told NewsNation in august. “And we’ll continue to teach the academic standards as we have.”
Miller added that as a Christian, “the idea of diminishing the Word of God to a mere classroom prop is a little revulsive to me.”
Donald Trump was criticized for holding up a Bible during a photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., in 2020 during a series of heated Black Lives Matter marches, shortly before police tear-gassed protesters near by.
When Trump was asked whether he was holding his own Bible, the then-president responded, “It’s a Bible.”
Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, told The Washington Post at the time that she was “outraged” the White House had cleared demonstrations “with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop”.
