by Sharelle Burt
October 5, 2024
America is going to hell.
A Bible endorsed by former President Donald Trump will be making appearances within Oklahoma schools, thanks to state school Superintendent Ryan Walters, the Oklahoman reports.
On Sept. 29, bids were made public for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. Bid documents show bid requirements include Bibles being of the King James Version, must hold the Old and New Testaments and include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Lastly, all Holy books should be bound in leather or leather-like material.
Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, praised by Trump, made the cut. It costs $60 each online, including a cut for the four-time-indicted businessman due to his endorsement. With 55,000 Bibles in the schools, that amounts to $3.3 million in Trump’s pocket.
Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Colleen McCarty says the RFP seems “fair” but found it odd that there aren’t many Bibles that match the requirements. “We can see there are very few Bibles on the market that would meet these criteria, and all of them have been endorsed by former President Donald Trump,” she said.
However, former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson thinks the request may violate some laws. “It appears to me that this bid is anything but competitive. It adds to the basic specification other requirements that have nothing to do with the text,” Edmondson said.
“The special binding and inclusion of government documents will exclude almost all bidders. If the bid specs exclude most bidders unnecessarily, I could consider that a violation.”
According to the New Republic, Trump is cashing in on another Bible. The troubled politician signed a different version of Greenwood’s publication and sold it at retail for $1,000 each. Supporters gravitated toward the book because it played on Trump’s campaign, saying, “We must make America pray again.”
In July 2024, Walters revealed new guidelines for teaching Bibles in classrooms and laid out the consequences if districts refused to comply. “Every teacher, every classroom in the state, will have a Bible in the classroom and will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom,” Walters said at the time of the announcement.
Some superintendents said they have no problem being reprimanded as they won’t permit their teachers to follow suit. “We will not be forcing our teachers to do this,” Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller said on Aug. 12. “As a Christian myself, the idea of diminishing the word of God to a mere classroom prop is a little repulsive to me, so we will not be complying with that directive of having a physical Bible in every classroom.”
Close to 130 people have resigned or been terminated since Walters took office in 2023.
Walter’s controversial request came about on Sept. 26. He asked for $3 million to purchase as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget request that will go before the Oklahoma Legislature. The funds allegedly come from payroll savings. He boasted about being “proud” that the state would be “the first state in the country to bring the Bible back to every classroom.”
Paperback versions of the New King James Version are sold online for $2.99 each, 5% less than the cost of the Trump-endorsed Bible. Bible apps are also free of charge.
Walter appeared on conservative podcasts, radio shows, and TV stations as elected superintendent. He makes $60,000 a year under a contract with D.C.-based Vought Strategies, responsible for booking him for weekly national interviews.
