Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is requiring Oklahoma public schools to have Bibles in the classrooms and teach from those Bibles. However, the instruction will not be religious as much as historical, focused in particular upon the Bible’s place in American history.
Ryan Walters remains a stormy petrel, working to reverse the trend of wokeness in Oklahoma schools. And so the objections to this move by Walters run the gamut of ridiculousness. For example, here is Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, saying that he welcomes teaching the Bible in Oklahoma schools, as the Bhagavad-Gita can also be taught.
With all due respect, the Bhagavad Gita is not part of American history.
Then there is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma chapter of the the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Adam Soltani, asking this question:
Why are we emphasizing or requiring the teaching of one particular religious scripture?
A simple search of the Internet with the terms “Bible” and “American history” produces results including these:
While the U. S. Constitution is a practical legal document, it is based on a consensus of long-held moral, philosophical, and political beliefs, principles, and customs recognized and practiced by the American people.
Some important philosophical influences on the Constitution include the colonial and state constitutions, the Great Awakening, modern Enlightenment thinkers, and the Declaration of Independence.
Notably, all of these particular influences were shaped by a God-oriented worldview based on and/or consistent with the Bible. This worldview was held by colonial and founding-era Americans as well as by the political philosophers they read.
In fact, the Bible itself was also a very strong, direct influence on founding-era Americans who drafted and ratified the Constitution.”
So that is all Adam Soltani had to do: a simple Internet search.
But CAIR has a long history of trying to penetrate the public schools system around the country with its political messages about Islam having nothing to do with 9/11, and of teaching the 1619 project, as well as fight to get Muslim students special privileges under the pretext of prevention of bullying.
Of course, the Bible has been taught as literature in the public schools for decades. And it is telling that the powers that be in Oklahoma are much more comfortable exposing students to homosexuality than to the moral code that helped form the foundation of the United States.
It is absolutely true that all of CAIR’s TV appearance fall into one or more of these categories: supporting a terrorist organization, threatening someone or something, or offering its irrelevant reaction to something in the news.
Captain Haddock says
I’d say the Bible is necessary and the kor’an should be burned in public (all of them).
Mike says
I like your thinking
every Koran should
OLD GUY says
Thumbs up. Every Quran burned is one less evil in the world.
somehistory says
The Bible does have a place in American History. No student needs to be told that he needs to follow the Laws, precepts, commands or principles found therein, but finding out that the Founders of the country and the leaders in many States used the Bible as a basis for their laws would help give students a rounded education in the history of the nation.
Of course, mozlums aren’t the only ones objecting. One family in OK has already objected.
mad murray o’hare would be screaming from the rooftops….but she is long dead.
PRCS says
“No student needs to be told that he needs to follow the Laws, precepts, commands or principles found therein, but finding out that the Founders of the country and the leaders in many States used the Bible as a basis for their laws would help give students a rounded education in the history of the nation.”
Used to convey a greater understanding of U.S. history: no problem.
PRCS says
O’Hair is best known for the Murray v. Curlett lawsuit, which challenged the policy of mandatory prayers and Bible reading in Baltimore public schools
SC says
Let them spend millions taking it to court. Then pass a state law mandatinig it. Use the dem bankrupt by lawfare technique.
Spiro says
It’s time Christians object to Muslims interfering in their lives and tell them to go home
We better stand up for ourselves and quite being so weak giving in to demands
They don’t like you they never will
Rarely says
I’m surprised to hear that the Bible is taught in the public school system. I see no justification for doing so including a fabricated attachment to the founding of the U.S.
somehistory says
If you lived in the USA as a citizen, your opinion might matter.
The “attachment” is not fabricated. There are words written by many of the Founders which are quotes from the Bible and many State constitutions make use of the Word in forming the documents.
The Bible is “not taught” in the public schools. In high schools when students take a course in Religion, the Bible is considered along with other books.
This new thing in OK is not a teaching on religion, but the Bible is a Book of History which the Founders recognized as a basis for Freedom of Religion, Speech, etc.
GE says
Hi Somehistory,
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I took a college course “The Bible as Literature” for my English major.
Sad how things have deteriorated.
somehistory says
Hi, GE,
Dinosaurs still do….they are just very tiny examples. so you can’t be old if that’s your reference.
I have read many quotes from various people who had such admiration and respect for the Bible as a Book of literature.
Even if one doesn’t believe everything the Bible says, one can still learn from a reading of it.
Yes, it is very sad. and it means so many are missing so much that would enrich their lives.
Larry Estavan says
I have to concur with GE.
Back when the Earth was young, I took an elective in HIGH SCHOOL(!) called “Bible as Literature”. This was never a controversy. It wasn’t on the news, there were no protests, there were BIbles in the classroom, it didn’t turn me into a Christian, nobody cared. The teacher even brought in a Creationist, and we got to challenge his ideas in class.
Apparently, it doesn’t matter how many times Ryan Walters repeats himself that the Bible is a part of American history, news stations are to continue to put CAIR on even though Adam Soltani’s opinion is irrelevant. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QoLtylP9xQ
I do find this controversy to be part of the much too fashionable anti-Christian sentiment that has been around as long as Sinclair Lewis’ “Elmer Gantry”.
Ryan Walters deserves a lot of praise for taking on the woke Left the way that he has lately.
As the article said, Walters’ critics are much more comfortable exposing children to homosexuality in schools than discussing the Bible in a historical context.
PRCS says
@LE
Both the Bible and Qur’an can be taught as literature, of course.
But only the Bible has significant relevance to U.S. history.
P.S. I grew up in the age of dinosaurs, too.
Mike says
In his book “The God Delusion,” Richard Dawkins wrote that it’s important to learn at least some of the Bibke as literature, because many words, idioms, proverbs and literary allusions in the English language come from the King James Bible.
He added, “The same applies ti the gods and legends of Greco-Roman mythology, and we learn about them without being asked to believe in them.”
somehistory says
Mike, some of those are
“you reap as you sow.”
“sow the wind.”
“the handwriting on the wall.”
“a little bird told me.”
And there are also listed the six forms of water one may not find in other books.
so much more….
Fuzzy says
If moslems don’t want the Bible in US schools, then they should go back to their Islam country and stay there. In those hell-holes, just being in possession of a Bible will get you executed.
PRCS says
Fuzzy,
What countries should Muslims born in the U.S. move to?
Fuzzy says
PRCS, There are 57 mozlem countries.
PRCS says
“they should go back to their Islam country”
What countries should Muslims BORN in the U.S. move to?