How to Truthfully Teach History Now that Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters Orders Schools to Teach The Bible:
Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters Orders Schools to teach the Bible so students will learn the “substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution. Immediate and strict compliance is expected,” the memo noted. Walters continued at a state Board of Education meeting Thursday, saying, “We’ll be teaching from the Bible in the classroom to ensure that this historical understanding is there for every student in the state of Oklahoma.”
Teaching the Bible in Oklahoma
Ryan Walters must be a true Consitutionalist and believer in education. How grateful we should feel that we now are required to teach our children the role religion played in our nation’s founding–Specifically: how the Founding Fathers, many professed Deists, wanted a strict separation of Church and State. By examining their own words and writings, Ryan Walters might cause students to learn about how:
- George Washington assured a Jewish Congregation there will be no mandated Christian state-religion.
- Jefferson wrote his own Bible removing supernatural elements and pens the “Act for the Establishing Religious Freedom” .
- Benjamin Franklin reflected on the loss of his faith and the importance of religious tolerance in “The Parable Against Persecution” .
- James Madison requested that state funds not be used for religious institutions.
- John Locke combined his religious faith and religious tolerance from the empirical methods of the Age of Enlightenment.
- John Adams assured Muslims that America and Islam were friends and not enemies.
- to Compare and Contrast the American Constitution and The Ten Commandments to see which laws appear in both, and which don’t, while also comparing ancient laws like Hamarabi’s code to see the development of morality and laws through the ages.
- And so much more
The Separation of Church and State
There’s no need to fear teaching the Bible as a Historical Document. Students will learn that The Founding Father’s never intended America to be a Christian nation. Students will learn how different Founding Fathers had differing religious beliefs and created the laws of the Constitution to protect freedom of religion. Surely this is what Ryan Walters intends by his edict: To educate the future of America as to the true history and beliefs of The Founding Fathers: The Christians, The Deists, The Atheists, the Unitarians, the Undeclared. Because Ryan Walters is an honorable man, as are they all honorable men. Surely, no honorable man would be intending this edict in an attempt to be un-Constitutional or for nefarious ends? Only the ACLU knows…
Malicious Compliance
In the event that Ryan Walters intends to force one religion over another in the United States of America, there is no need for any Roman knives in the senate. We, as teachers, can teach The Bible. Teach how The Bible demands the death penalty for wearing mixed fibers in Leviticus (Sorry, Timmy, your cotton/nylon blend P.E. shorts condemn you to eternal damnation). Teach how Thomas Jefferson said, “Every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty … they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon.” So teach honestly about the founding fathers and the bible and see what happens. Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant. Ryan Walters: Come towards the light…
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