Some Oklahoma schools received Trump-backed Bibles with outdated U.S. Constitution. Here's context

In fall 2025, a rumor spread online that the Oklahoma Department of Education, under the direction of former Superintendent Ryan Walters, sent the state's public school teachers copies of Bibles that contained a version of the U.S. Constitution missing the 11th through 27th amendments. 

TikTok user @aaronmichaelbaker popularized the claim (archived). He said, in part (emphasis ours): 

Hi, my name is Aaron Baker. I'm a high school social studies teacher in Oklahoma. And this is one of two "God Bless the USA" Bibles that was sent to me by state Superintendent Ryan Walters. And after months of claiming that one of these Bibles was going to be in every Oklahoma classroom, two finally arrived in my school with my name on it specifically, because I teach AP [Advanced Placement] U.S. government and politics. 

[…]

The only thing that's quote unquote special about this Bible, is that in the back, when I was a kid, where the maps used to be, is where we find a letter from [country singer] Lee Greenwood, followed by the Declaration of Independence, followed by the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, the Pledge of Allegiance and then a place for notes.

[…] 

Something became apparent to me. One could say that parts of the Constitution are missing, particularly amendments 11 through 27. But you could also make the argument that this is the wrong Constitution, in fact. The Constitution in this Bible contains what's called the three-fifths compromise, which was summarily removed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States. The 14th Amendment is also missing from this Constitution, and that is where we get the due process of law. This is not an accident. This is an incomplete-at-best Constitution that's in this Bible, and it's a dishonest Constitution. 

Several news media outlets covered Baker's allegation, including ABC News and The Independent. Rumors about the "God Bless the USA" Bible and its presence in Oklahoma classrooms also spread on Reddit and Facebook.  

Snopes purchased a copy of the "God Bless the USA" Bible and determined that Baker accurately described what amendments were not included in this Bible's copy of the Constitution. Furthermore, Walters advertised the distribution of these specific Bibles in Oklahoma classrooms. Thus, we rate this claim true. 

Whether this Constitution is "wrong" or "dishonest" is a matter of opinion, as the version of the Constitution included in the "God Bless the USA" Bible was the original version that went into effect in 1789. However, it is worth noting that no mention of this fact appears in the edition, nor does it include the date of ratification or any indication that the Constitution has since been amended past the Bill of Rights.

"The God Bless The USA Bible includes the ORIGINAL founding father documents as amendments 11-27 to the US Constitution were added at later dates," said the company that makes these Bibles (which shares a name with its product) in response to an inquiry as to why the publisher chose not to include context about the version of the Constitution that appears in the book. 

Walters resigned from his position as state superintendent on Sept. 30, 2025, to lead the conservative, anti-union Teacher Freedom Alliance. In October, Walters' successor, Lindel Fields, said the Oklahoma Department of Education would cease distribution of Bibles to classrooms. 

Inside the 'God Bless the USA' Bibles 

As Baker described in his video, these Bibles contain a copy of the original Constitution alongside the Bill of Rights, the Pledge of Allegiance and what Baker called a "letter from Lee Greenwood," the country music singer who publishes the "God Bless the USA" Bible. Specifically, that "letter" took the form of an image of handwritten lyrics to Greenwood's song "God Bless the U.S.A." 

Greenwood's Bible labels its version of the Constitution as simply "The Constitution" with no additional context. The copy of the Constitution ends at Article 7, as the original Constitution did. The next few pages show the Founding Fathers' signatures and then the Bill of Rights, which consists of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. See a scanned copy of the relevant portions of the Bible's contents below: 

As Baker noted, the original Constitution — and thus the version in the "God Bless the USA" Bible — includes what's known as the "three-fifths compromise," an agreement reached in 1787 to count three out of every five enslaved people in a state's total population when determining representation in Congress. The 13th and 14th amendments, which abolished slavery and introduced a new way to calculate legislative representation, later rendered the three-fifths compromise moot.

The 11th through 27th amendments missing from the "God Bless the USA" Bible also include rights such as women's suffrage, birthright citizenship and the right to due process. The omission of these amendments also means that the texts included in the Bible make no mention of the abolition of slavery.

How did these Bibles end up in classrooms?

In June 2024, Walters declared he would mandate Bibles in every Oklahoma classroom. The state Department of Education opened bids for a contract to purchase 55,000 Bibles for its public schools in October 2024, according to court documents. After The Oklahoman reported that the bids' specifications matched only Bibles endorsed by President Donald Trump, including the "God Bless the USA" Bible, the state amended its request.

Months later, Walters announced the purchase of "more than 500 Bibles for use in AP Government classrooms today." In a November 2024 video posted on X, he said the classrooms would have a "Bible just like this" and held up a copy of the "God Bless the USA" Bible (see 0:16). The Associated Press and other reputable outlets also reported that the 500 Bibles purchased in November were the "God Bless the USA" Bible.

Walters then ran into a few obstacles in attempts to bring more Bibles into Oklahoma's schools. State lawmakers refused Walters' request for $3 million to purchase these Bibles. The then-superintendent's initial directive also sparked legal challenges and the state Supreme Court paused his directive on March 10, 2025.

On March 6, however, the state Department of Education announced Walters teamed up with Greenwood, an ardent supporter of Trump, to "bring the Bible back into Oklahoma classrooms."

The Facebook video above included a link allowing people to purchase and donate the $59.99 "God Bless the USA" Bible to Oklahoma classrooms (archived). That version was endorsed, but not signed, by Trump. As of this writing, Greenwood's company also sells a "presidential edition" for $99.99 and a version signed by Trump for $1,000. 

From the Oklahoma DOE to Baker's hands 

Baker, who told Snopes in a video call that he teaches AP U.S. government and politics in Oklahoma City, said he received his two copies in March 2025. According to Baker, his school received the copies via mail from the state Department of Education "to the care of Aaron Baker," presumably because he teaches both of the school's AP government classes. (Baker declined to share the name of his school and district for verification purposes due to fear of retaliation.)

Baker showed Snopes a copy of the "God Bless the USA" Bible that visually matched the one we independently acquired. 

Baker said the Bibles came with no instructions on how to include them in his curriculum and that he has not made specific plans to incorporate the Bibles he received into his lessons — but he does have some ideas.

"My approach to this is comparative religion. If [the "God Bless the USA" Bible] is going to be in my classroom, the Quran is, and the Bhagavad Gita, and many, many other texts," Baker said, adding that he also has multiple versions of the Bible beyond the "God Bless the USA" one.

Baker also said the "God Bless the USA" Bible team's argument that they included only "original" documents does not "hold true." As an example, he pointed to the version of the "Pledge of Allegiance" included, which has the words "under God" — a 1954 addition to the original 1892 verse. 

Thus, it was true that Oklahoma classrooms have received copies of the "God Bless the USA" Bible, although it was unclear how many. It was also factually accurate to say the "God Bless the USA" Bible did not have the 11th through 27th amendments of the Constitution. The Bible's publishers included only the Constitution's original seven articles and first 10 amendments.

For further reading, Snopes previously reported that Trump profited from sales of the "God Bless the USA" Bible after endorsing it in early 2024.