Oklahoma's new social studies standards go all in on Christian Nationalism

Ryan Walters wants to indoctrinate children with his brand of Christianity

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As part of his ongoing efforts to brainwash children into Christianity, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters just released the new standards for public school social studies classes. (These are the required topics teachers must incorporate into their lessons.) And, as expected, the standards include all kinds of religious indoctrination.

Walters even brags in his press release that the new standards “mention the Bible and its historical impact over 40 times.”

The new standards are among the strongest in the country: pro- America, pro-American exceptionalism, and strengthen civics and constitutional studies across every grade. They include Supt. Walters Bible curriculum recommendations and mention the Bible and its historical impact over 40 times.

…

“Oklahoma is putting the Bible and the historical impact of Christianity back in school. We are demanding that our children learn the full and true context of our nation’s founding and of the principles that made and continue to make America great and exceptional,” said Walters. “I am proud that Oklahoma is taking the lead in putting President Trump’s education agenda into practice. We are presenting a successful model that others can emulate for how to restore public education and eradicate radical woke influences from our schools.

What are some of those lessons?

First graders will be taught the “purpose and meaning” of the Pledge of Allegiance “and the significance of the phrase ‘under God.’”

The phrase “under God” was added in the Pledge in 1954 for purely political reasons. The Pledge itself is anti-immigration and encourages mindless patriotism. But I doubt that’s what Walters expects teachers to explain. The same push for performative patriotism is suggested in section (D), which calls for kids to learn “appropriate ways to show respect” during the National Anthem. Taking a knee because you demand more from this country is presumably not one of those ways.

First graders will also have to explain the meaning of “In God we trust” and “the importance of religion to American people.”

If recent surveys tell us anything, it’s that Americans have grown decidedly less religious over the past several decades.

Second graders will be taught “stories from Christianity that influenced the American colonists, Founders, and culture, including the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (e.g., the “Golden Rule,” the Sermon on the Mount).”

That’s just another way of promoting Christian Nationalism and the lies of Christian pseudo-historian David Barton. Many of the Founders, and certainly the foundational documents of the country, were not influenced by Christianity. And the Golden Rule was not a Jesus Original™.

That same lie will make its way into 8th grade classes, too, since students will have to “Evaluate the role of Judeo-Christian ideals in supporting colonial demands for independence, as exemplified by the Bible being a frequently cited authority by America's Founders.” (Spoiler: It wasn’t a frequently cited authority.)

For high school students, the indoctrination is even stronger. Christianity and slavery are only connected through Christian humanitarians who called for its abolition, not how the Bible was often used to justify enslavement.

It’s no different in U.S. Government classes, where students have to describe how the Constitution “was influenced by religion, morality, and the Bible as a frequently cited authority by America's founders.”

When it comes to world history, the Bible is used as a historical text. Students are supposed to describe how Christianity worked in ancient Rome, including “the meanings and effects of Jesus of Nazareth’s words as recorded by Matthew.”

An elective class on the “History of 20th Century Totalitarianism” offers Christianity as the alternative to Communism, laughably calling on students to understand “the Christian idea of the equality of souls, the Christian ideal of charity, and the renunciation of worldly wealth.” (None of those things describe the current Republican Party that is backed by the vast majority of white evangelicals.)

The standards also ask students to summarize “the political impact of President Clinton’s impeachment”… but make no mention of Donald Trump’s two impeachments.

Walters says the new standards “are available for public comment through January 21, 2025,” at which point he will probably take any criticisms, promptly ignore them, and do whatever the hell he wants to do anyway because Republicans in the state don’t have the courage to get rid of him.

It could have been worse, too, according to two teachers involved in the drafting of these standards. According to FOX 25, one of those educators said there were “some last-minute edits” to clean up some of the more egregious items and that “it could have been much worse." Is that supposed to make us feel better? Who knows. (A version of the earlier standards were leaked online. Walters’ office denied the legitimacy of that document, but the people who work there don’t exactly have a track record of honesty, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.)

After the public comment phase is complete a month from now, the state legislature will still have to approve these standards. But there’s no reason to think MAGA Republicans in a deeply red state are going to, for once, think of the children instead of fighting a culture war battle that harms those kids’ futures.

Ironically, Walters was part of the group that drafted the previous social studies standards in 2019, which he said at the time would “foster an environment that creates a love of history due to the engaging nature in which it will now be presented.” Those standards were apparently garbage, though, since Walters is now rewriting them to include more Jesus and Christian Nationalist rhetoric.

The Oklahoman has more on who crafted this document:

[Walters] said members of that 10-person [executive review] committee would include the co-founder of the conservative nonprofit PragerU, a representative from the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the president of another conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, along with multiple other right-wing voices. Only three of the people on the executive committee have ever lived in Oklahoma.

There are no Oklahoma public-school teachers or administrators on the executive committee, although there were about 75 of them who worked on updating the standards.

All of this, of course, come on the heels of Walters requesting (then canceling) bids to purchase 55,000 Trump bibles for public school classrooms, then purchasing 500 Trump bibles for use in Advanced Placement Government classes anyway. Even though there’s no requirement for teachers to use the Bible in the classroom, Walters has repeatedly pushed them to do exactly that, many superintendents have rejected the idea, and there’s an ongoing lawsuit to prevent Walters’ plans from being enacted.

But these social studies standards, written with deliberate vagueness, are a new way to inject Christianity where it doesn’t belong. Walters can pretend this isn’t about inflicting his religion upon children, but his public statements all point in that direction. Instead of openly saying he wants to convert kids, he just claims Christianity is intertwined with American history, giving him a secular rationale for his religious goals. At the end of the day, the students being lied to by their teachers are the ones who’ll be most affected.

By one measure, Oklahoma ranks near the bottom (49!) of the worst states in the country when it comes to education. Ryan Walters is determined to make sure his state ends up even lower on the list.

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