*sigh*
I refuse to read the MSM pieces about Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters telling schools to incorporate the Bible in their lessons. The headlines alone gaslight people.
No, Walters did NOT instruct teachers to teach the Bible in the way so many assume. You use it as a source!
“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone,” said Walters. “Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation which is why Oklahoma educational standards provide for its instruction. This is not merely an educational directive but a crucial step in ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country.”
Also, weaving the Bible into lessons is crucial to many literature and history classes.
Walters’ press statement reveals more (emphasis mine):
The Bible is one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments. They will be referenced as an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like, as well as for their substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution.
It’s not just our history. Governments throughout history used the Bible as a ruling device.
I majored in English literature and minored in history. My concentration was the Renaissance. Thank goodness for a Bible as Literature class, which enhanced my understanding and critical thinking when reading Paradise Lost and a handful of Shakespeare plays. I even understood more of the symbolism in “Young Goodman Brown.”
Hamlet. Grapes of Wrath. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Even Lord of the Flies.
I wish I had basic Bible knowledge when I had to read most of those stories in high school.
It is also important to know the history of the period when the authors wrote most books: Paradise Lost and the English Civil War. Well, the time periods you study in your history classes, the governments, and civilian life are centered around the Bible.
How…how do you teach the Protestant Reformation without bringing in the Bible? How do you teach the Crusades without bringing in the Bible? How do you teach Henry VIII without bringing in the Bible?
For crying out loud…you NEED to know the Bible to understand the Puritans and Salem Witch Trials!
Whether you like it or not, the Bible influenced many of our Founding Fathers.
The Founders were brilliant in using the Creator instead of God because they knew that not everyone had the same religious beliefs.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
But that doesn’t mean the Bible didn’t impact them. I mean:
Convention delegates occasionally invoked the Bible in surprising and interesting ways. During debate on the qualifications for public office, the venerable Benjamin Franklin spoke in opposition to any proposal that, in his words, “tended to debase the spirit of the common people. … We should remember the character which the Scripture requires in Rulers.” He then invoked Jethro’s advice to Moses regarding qualifications for prospective Israelite rulers, “that they should be men hating covetousness” (Exodus 18:21). Significantly, Franklin appealed to a biblical standard in this debate on a substantive provision, informing his audience in unambiguous language that his source was “Scripture,” and then he referenced a specific biblical text.
It is necessary to have Biblical knowledge for these lessons.
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