Putting Bibles In Oklahoma Schools Will Never Work
Parents are skeptical that teachers will impart their version of Christianity. It’s a concern as old as America.
Pumping the brakes.
Photographer: David McNew/Getty ImagesOklahoma’s new law mandating Bible instruction in public schools violates the US Constitution and courts should strike it down. In the meantime, however, local attitudes toward the law are providing a reminder about why the framers wanted to separate church and state — and why that principle remains as relevant as ever.
The relevant part of the Constitution is called the Establishment Clause and it’s part of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Its original purpose was more to protect religion from the state than vice versa. In particular, the framers understood that different religious denominations, even when they were nearly all Protestant, couldn’t agree on a single version of religion to be established nationally.