The Bible in Public Schools? Oklahoma Pushes Limits of Long Tradition.

The Bible has been a presence in American classrooms to at least some degree since before the origins of the country’s public school system in the 19th century.

But the announcement by Oklahoma’s state superintendent on Thursday that all public schools in the state must teach the Bible represented a major effort to expand its role and bring a Christian historical perspective to most all students. Schools have become the arena for an array of moral and cultural conflicts, and conservative Christians are asserting their political muscle even as they decline as a share of the American population.

“In Oklahoma, we are very proud to lead the country on pushing back on the leftists trying to rewrite history and say, No, we will teach from the Bible,” the superintendent, Ryan Walters, said in an interview on Friday.

Mr. Walters, a Christian conservative and former history teacher, said the mandate would focus on fifth through 12th grades, with an emphasis on the Bible’s influence in history and literature, areas where the Bible has historically been accepted in public education.

For example, he said, the Bible could be used in a lesson to understand the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, which says that all men are “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,” or in a study of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” which includes references to Jesus and his teachings.

But he went further, saying that the Bible would also be woven across subjects including math and science, in which students could examine its influence on leading thinkers and ideas. Biblical instruction could also be offered in younger grades when applicable.