In the days since Oklahoma’s state superintendent, Ryan Walters, ordered school districts to teach the Bible, he’s been defending his mandate.

For example, he claimed in an interview on NewsNation that the Bible had “been removed from classrooms, and we’re saying, listen, we’re proud to be the first state to bring it back.”

In reality, U.S. federal law has never prevented public schools from including the Bible as an appropriate aid in the teaching of secular subjects. Rather, what current Supreme Court precedent forbids is use of the Bible as part of religious training in public schools.

Walters’ mandate – sent to districts on June 27, 2024 – seems to blur this line between secular and religious instruction. It also contributes to a larger trend of state officials striving to weaken the boundaries between religion and state.

Another prominent example is the new law in Louisiana requiring every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments. This law has already generated a lawsuit from civil rights groups.

As someone who studies religious liberty law, I see these state initiatives as part of a larger push to increase the presence of Christianity in the public sphere and to challenge constitutional protections for religious freedom.

The major Supreme Court case dealing with Bible reading in public schools is Abbington v. Schempp, which was decided in 1963.

At issue was a Pennsylvania law, enacted in 1913, requiring that “At least ten verses from the Holy Bible shall be read, without comment, at the opening of each public school on each school day.” The law allowed children to........

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