Oct. 9 (UPI) — Oklahoma’s Education Department altered its request for bids for Bibles to be placed in its classrooms after numerous complaints charged that the request only fits two Bibles both endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
The purchase is part of a controversial requirement made by state officials that all fifth grade through high school classrooms have Bibles and require educators to teach from them. The Department of Education sent out a request for proposal, or RFP, for 55,000 Bibles.
The special requirements said the King James version of Bibles had to be bound in leather or a leather-like material and contain the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.
State superintendent Rick Walters, who has endorsed Trump for president, relented to criticism and said the RFP will be changed allowing those documents to be made separately. He rejected the criticism that the original proposal was meant to fit Trump-endorsed Bibles.
“There are numerous Bible vendors in this country that can fulfill this request,” Walter said on Tuesday, according to KOSU Radio. “The purpose of the RFP process is to find a vendor that can provide the product we need, or reasonable quality, at the best value.
“There are numerous state employees engaged and committed to a process to determine who that best vendor will be, and I will have no involvement in that process, as it should be.”
Under the original RFP, two Bibles were known to fit the criteria — Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA Bible, which is referred to as the “Trump Bible,” and the We The People Bible, endorsed by Donald Trump, Jr. The ex-president received a royalty fee for the Greenwood Bible.
The controversy over which Bible to use has overtaken some school districts that have been in open revolt of teaching Bible mandates.
“I can tell you that the majority of schools in my area are not adhering to [Walters’] mandate,” said Caddo Public Schools superintendent Lee Norcutt, according to The Hill. “I have heard that there are several schools in far Southeast Oklahoma that are doing it because the school boards are wanting to do it.”