Oklahoma’s new K–12 education chief no longer plans to require public schools to place Bibles in classrooms or integrate biblical teachings, reversing course from his predecessor who led a campaign to keep a Christian perspective in public education.
State Superintendent Lindel Fields, who took office this month to replace Ryan Walters, indicated on Oct. 15 he will not defend in court Walters’s order directing all Oklahoma public schools to incorporate the Bible in social studies curricula and keep a copy of it in every classroom.
A lawsuit filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court last October challenged that order, along with Walters’s proposal to spend an initial $3 million in taxpayer funds to buy 55,000 King James Version Bibles for schools. On Oct. 14 this year, the court acknowledged that Walters’s departure “may ultimately lead to resolution” of the pending case, and gave Fields until Oct. 28 to decide whether or not to settle the dispute by withdrawing the Bible directives….