A so-called “Trump Bible” matches perfectly the requirements by Republican Ryan Walters to put a Bible in every classroom of public schools in Oklahoma, according to a city publication, Oklahoma Watch.
As reported earlier by Christian Daily International, Ryan Walters, Oklahoma State’s Superintendent for Public Instruction, and responsible for the oversight of elementary and secondary schools, unveiled the plan for the Bibles in schools in June, 2024.
Oklahoma Watch reports that the city's Department of Education’s bid for 55,000 Bibles requires them to be “the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.”
Lee Greenwood’s “God bless the U.S.A. Bible,” commonly known as the “Trump Bible” and selling for $60 USD per copy, is the only one of 2,900 Bibles fitting the requirements, according to the news report. Meanwhile, they highlighted that paperback versions of the New King James Version sell online for as little as $2.99 USD each.
Walters has faced a backlash from some school authorities over his Bibles plan. Reports say 13 school districts are vying to disobey his order for the Bibles to be placed in classrooms and used by teachers in lessons.
Walters originally outlined his reasoning for the Bibles in a video recorded during a State Board of Education meeting, published on X. He said his staff had been looking at the statute and academic standards in Oklahoma, and came to a “crystal clear” conclusion about the importance of the Bible.
“The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of western civilisation, to have an understanding of the basis of our legal system and, as frankly we are talking about the Bible, one of the most foundational documents used for the constitution and birth of our country,” said Walters.
“We also find major points in history that reference the Bible. We see multiple figures, rather we are talking about the Federalist papers, constitutional conventional arguments, and Martin Luther King junior, who used it as a tremendous impetus for the Civil Rights Movement. In time, many of those arguments go back to the Bible.”
Walters himself worked as a history teacher at McAlester High School in his hometown of McAlester for eight years, and also taught at MillWood High Schools in Oklahoma City. He was named an Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Finalist in 2016 and later became Secretary of Public Education in Sept. 2020 under Governor Kevin Stitt.
Walters believed in his announcement that “it is essential our kids have an understanding of the Bible in its historical context.”
“So we will be issuing a memo today that every school district will adhere to, which is that every teacher in every classroom in the State will have a Bible in the classroom and will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom, to ensure that this historical understanding is there for every student in the State of Oklahoma, in accordance with our academic standards and State law,” he said at the time of the announcement.
