An Oklahoma lawmaker is concerned about “pink-haired” atheists teaching the Bible in classrooms.
Republican state Senator David Bullard sat down with American evangelical author David Barton and his co-hosts on the Wallsbuilders Show in an episode titled “Reviving Morality in Classrooms Through Faith Initiatives”.
Bullard said since taking office in November 2018, he has fought to see the U.S.’s Christian and constitutional heritage taught in schools – in particular, during history class.
The legislator first heaped praise onto Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s chief school officer and one-time educational secretary hopeful, after he lobbied to get thousands of Donald Trump’s Bibles in schools.
However, Bullard then issued a warning about the good book falling into the wrong hands inside the classroom.
“We need to be specific here,” he said on the podcast last Wednesday. “I don't want some pink-haired person who doesn't believe in God to start trying to teach the Bible.”
Bullard went on to mention a revived bill – that was killed last year but is currently in the Education Committee – that would require educators to teach the “original intent of the Founding Fathers while constructing the United States Constitution” and the “influence of the Ten Commandments and the Bible on the United States's founding documents.”
The legislation states that it should be “presented objectively as part of a secular program of education.”
Bullard continued: “I've run that bill this year, that Senate bill 850, and that one actually gives them I think it's 20 different quotes from the Founding Fathers on our Christian and constitutional heritage.”
Last year, Bullard also filed Senate Bill 1858 in an attempt to place privately-funded 6ft-tall Ten Commandments monuments inside and outside the Oklahoma Capitol “as a symbol of its historical significance for Oklahoman and American history.”
In 2023, Bullard hit headlines for submitting the Millstone Act, which sought to prevent a person under the age of 26 from accessing gender-affirming health care.
In the same year, he authored Senate Bill 870, which would restrict the Diversity, Equity, and Offices in colleges and universities.
