Oklahoma teacher and local reverend express concerns about Ryan Walters’ Bible mandate

OKLAHOMA CITY ( KFOR ) — Teaching the Bible in Oklahoma public schools is a new mandate put in place by Oklahoma’s State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

Walters said in a statement, “The Bible is a standard and necessary historical document.”

Reverend and Doctor Shannon Fleck has studied theology for almost a decade and she disagrees with Walters.

“When you teach a historical document you take into account the context, the authorship, and the audience for which it was written,” said Fleck.

A metro teacher also felt it was time to use her voice on this topic, but requested to keep her identity anonymous.

She tells News 4, “As both a parent and a teacher, I firmly believe that it is up to the families to teach their children about religion.”

Despite her concerns, she does not think religion is a bad thing, but adds, “It just doesn’t belong in schools.”

When News 4 spoke with the Oklahoma teacher, we asked how she plans to approach this upcoming school year.

Her response was, “My priority is to be an adult that these kids can count on. At the end of the day, I started doing this. I have always been passionate about education, I have two children myself.”

As an instructor she says her next steps are unclear but will continue to keep her students first.

“We have no direction from the Department of Education on what exactly this is going to look like, what exactly we have to do,” she says.

Last Friday, Walters told NBC News — “Oklahoma educators who refuse to teach students about the Bible could lose their teaching license.”

News 4 has also heard from several people via email who support Walters’ new mandate, expressing concerns over teachers who may go against it.

We reached out to them for a comment and have not heard back yet.

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