'Unconstitutional': Oklahoma superintendent calls for 'framed copy' of 10 Commandments in every class
24 June 2023
Republican Ryan Walters, the superintendent for Oklahoma state schools, on Thursday called for public school classrooms to display a copy of the Ten Commandments as he claimed “national left-wing indoctrination is attempting to destroy religion,” The Oklahoman reports.
Walters made the remarks on Thursday during an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting during which he endorsed “three recommendations” from the Oklahoma Advisory Council on Founding Principles, a group comprised of “several religious leaders,” including “Pastors for Trump” founder Jackson Lahmeyer.
The Oklahoma Advisory Council on Founding Principles sent its recommendations in a February letter to the superintendent, asking for Walters to “take every action possible to allow corporate prayer and expressions of faith in God back in our public school system,” the Oklahoman reports.
Per the Oklahoman, the three recommendations endorsed by Walters include a minute of silence at the beginning of each school day, “a ‘durable poster or framed copy’ of the Ten Commandments” in each class and a “Western civilization” graduation course requirement “to strengthen the heritage which was integral to the nation’s founding and its western culture, as well as to foster gratitude and informed citizenship.”
During the meeting, Walters also lamented “the current national left-wing indoctrination” that he claimed “is attempting to destroy religion as a way to destroy our entire country.”
“What we're going to continue to do is to make sure that faith isn’t being persecuted in our schools," Walters said at the meeting.
Former teacher turned State Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, a Democrat, slammed the superintendent for focusing so much attention on faith ins schools.
“We have much bigger things to kind of dig into when it comes to education here in Oklahoma," Rosencrants told ABC 5.
"First of all, I believe that’s unconstitutional,” Rosecrants said. “Second of all, if you do that, I think you would have to open it up for the tenants of any religion.”