(NewsNation) — Oklahoma public schools are mandated to teach the Bible, and the man responsible believes it is an essential aspect of education for all children in the state.
Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, Ryan Walters, joined “NewsNation Now” to defend his decision that all public school children in grades five to 12 must be taught the Bible.
“The Bible is a historical document. It is the No. 1 bestselling book in American history,” Walters said.
“You can’t continue to separate The Bible from American history. … If you talk about the Founders, you talk about Abraham Lincoln, you talk about Martin Luther King Jr., you talk about the pilgrims … how do you do this without the context of the Bible’s influence on these individuals?”
Walters believes the Bible, taught in its historical context and how it has impacted the history of the United States, dismisses the notion of religious favoritism or exclusion of other belief systems.
“The Bible’s not the only document we use in Oklahoma schools. We use a lot of primary source documents, but the one that’s been under attack, the one that these left-wing law firms have been attacking and scaring schools from using, is the Bible,” he said.
“We’re going to get back to a time where the Bible is included in the source documents around history. It’s absurd to say we can’t reference it — and it’s absurd to say so when the Founders referenced it, we can’t talk about it in the classroom.'”
Walters told “CUOMO” last week that the Bible isn’t the only religious text included in Oklahoma public schools.
It follows a newly implemented law in Louisiana wherein schools must display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.