Oklahoma public school officials are taking bids for 55,000 new Bibles, and the specifications are eye-catchingly specific.
Republican Superintendent Ryan Walters is searching for King James Bibles containing both the Old and New Testaments, with the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Pledge of Allegiance, and Declaration of Independence inserted, “bound in leather or leather-like material for durability.”
Oklahoma Watch asked Christian education material supplier Mardel to check its 2,900 Bible options against the specs. They found no matches. However, the publication found two: the $60 Donald Trump-endorsed “God Bless the U.S.A. Bible” from Lee Greenwood, and the $90 Donald Trump Jr.-backed “We The People Bible.”
Those Bibles made headlines in March as the ex-president's latest branded venture, succeeding a sneaker launch and a series of NFTs. Trump gets a cut of each Lee Greenwood Bible sale.
“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,” Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Colleen McCarty told Oklahoma Watch.
A former state Attorney General told the paper the bid request seemed “anything but competitive” and worried it might violate state law.
The Bibles are part of Walters’ mission to make religious education a mainstay in the Sooner State. In June, Walters ordered the Bible be used in lessons for students in fifth grade and up, warning that his office expected “immediate and strict compliance.”
A rep for Walters defended the Bible-scouting process and shrugged off the connection to Trump.
“There are hundreds of Bible publishers and we expect a robust competition for this proposal,” Dan Isett, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Education, told the Guardian.
