The battle to eject God from public schools has been going on for decades—and has been, to the detriment of Children, overwhelmingly successful. As a result, students have been left with curricula that are not only secular but fraught with agendas that draw children away from their creator. Unchallenged teachings on evolution, the origins of the universe, gender ideology, and the sexual revolution are only a few examples of the damaging aspects of the worldview now passed along to children.
States—such as Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas—have recently jumped into the fight, knowing that the Bible is vital to the education and moral foundation of students.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Superintendent of Education Ryan Walters announced last week the purchase of over 500 Bibles to be distributed to public schools in the state. According to the official press release, “This purchase is the first in the nation Bible purchase explicitly for use in schools as an academic and literary resource and is the first step toward providing Bibles for every classroom in the state.”
The 500 Bibles are only a small fraction of what Oklahoma intends to purchase. The state is currently working to secure a contract to obtain 55,000 King James Version Bibles for distribution in public schools.
Walters underscored Oklahoma’s focus to make “Bibles available in every classroom in our state as quickly as we can.”
“I will take every step possible to ensure Oklahoma students have the resources they need to fully understand American history. By acting now, Oklahoma is leading the country on a path toward greater focus on academic excellence by providing critical historical, cultural, and literary context for our students,” he stressed. “We are not going to change our history, and the Bible is a major part of that.”
“We have the Bible, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights — these are foundational documents in our nation’s history,” Walters further stated in a video message. “Our kids have to understand the role the Bible played in influencing American history.”
Additionally, Walters last week also announced the establishment of the “Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism” at Oklahoma’s State Department of Education in a push to protect the religious freedom of students, parents, and teachers.
“For decades our nation’s public schools have tragically been ground zero for the erosion of religious liberty across our country,” he described. “The radical left never misses a chance to co-opt the teacher unions and their minions to indoctrinate our children against traditional values of faith and family, seeking to attack any display of faith or religion or patriotism. It is no coincidence that the dismantling of faith and family values in public schools directly correlates with declining academic outcomes in our public schools. In Oklahoma, we are reversing this negative trend and, working with the incoming Trump Administration, we are going to aggressively pursue education policies that will improve academic outcomes and give our children a better future.”
Louisiana
Louisiana has been engrossed in a significant legal battle following the approval of House Bill 71 in June, which requires schools in the state to display the ten commandments.
According to Decision Magazine, the Bill also outlines that displays are to follow the “font and document size requirements as well as a statement about the historic background of the commandments within American public education.”
Shortly following the passing of the Bill, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit alleging that the law infringed upon the First Amendment. One judge agreed and HB 71 was stalled.
The fight, however, is far from over. Decision Magazine further reported that “Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Solicitor General Ben Aguiñaga have defended HB 71 by filing an emergency appeal to the 5th Circuit.” This appeal is being supported by others, including First Liberty Institute, which is “hopeful that the 5th Circuit will reverse the lower court and uphold Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law.”
Texas
The Texas State Board of Education, with Governor Greg Abbott’s support, narrowly approved a new public school curriculum (by a one-vote margin) that includes lessons centered around passages and parables taught by Christ from Scripture.
The Daily Wire detailed that “Texas school districts will be offered a financial incentive to adopt it, and the curriculum will become optional for 2.3 million public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade, beginning in August 2025.”
“School districts can choose whether to use the curriculum, but the state will offer districts $60 per student to implement the Christian-based lessons,” Daily Wire reported.
State Board of Education member Will Hickman voiced his support prior to the vote, stating that accounts from the Bible are educational and something that “all students should be exposed to.”
The excuse to remove God from public school classrooms largely came from a misrepresentation of the “separation of Church and State,” which insists that the First Amendment is aimed at keeping God out of government.
Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Virginia recently dispelled this false assumption: “Some have misinterpreted the First Amendment—the idea of a separation of church and state. The First Amendment was intended to keep government out of the church, not the church out of government. When Thomas Jefferson wrote his letter in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut, he was interpreting the constitutional rights that churches had to be involved in politics. The separation of church and state was intended to help churches and Christians realize that the government can’t intrude, not the other way around.”
With the Bible absent from numerous public schools, Children are being taught a strictly secular worldview, which Answers In Genesis’ Calvin Smith warns is far from “neutral.”
“Every parent knows that biblically, there is no such thing as neutrality,” Smith underscored. “It’s an ingenious strategy that humanists have employed for years now. Infiltrate and control the so-called public education system (which is supposed to be neutral) and impose their religion as ‘science’ to convert millions to their own faith position—and mostly at the expense of their opposition.”
“To put it bluntly, the West overtly teaches atheism to its young minds and has been doing so for decades now,” he asserted. “Humanists tend to reproduce themselves. Is it any wonder we see the outright madness displayed in culture today?”
