32 Oklahomans ask state Supreme Court to block school Bible purchases, teaching

A group of 32 Oklahomans have asked the state Supreme Court to stop a requirement that public schools keep copies of the Bible and teach from it. (Getty Images) (This image cannot be republished without a Getty subscription.)

OKLAHOMA CITY — A group of Oklahoma parents, students, teachers and faith leaders have asked the state Supreme Court to block a mandate that public schools teach from the Bible and keep a copy of it in classrooms.

Thirty-two plaintiffs filed the request on Thursday, contending the mandate violates the Oklahoma Constitution’s ban of state-established religion. They asked the justices to deem the requirements unenforceable and stop the use of taxpayer funds to buy Bibles.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education is seeking to purchase 55,000 Bibles to place in public school classrooms. State Superintendent Ryan Walters ordered public schools to incorporate more instruction on the Bible, particularly in fifth through 12th grade history courses.

Walters has said his aim is for schools to teach the historical and literary importance of the Bible, not to proselytize.

“It is not possible for our students to understand American history and culture without understanding the Biblical principles from which they came, so I am proud to bring back the Bible to every classroom in Oklahoma,” Walters said in a statement Thursday.

The plaintiffs and their attorneys contend Walters is wrongfully prioritizing his own Christian faith over other beliefs.

Several school districts have said they have no plans to add more instruction on the Bible other than what the Oklahoma Academic Standards already require. The state standards don’t mention the Bible by name, but they mandate districts to teach about major world religions and the role of religion in the founding of American colonies.

Walters, the Oklahoma State Board of Education and officials from the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which oversees procurement for the state government, are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.

All 32 plaintiffs are Oklahoma residents of various faiths or no religion. They each objected to the state using their tax dollars to purchase Bibles.

They contend the Education Department failed to follow state requirements for purchasing and rulemaking when implementing the Bible order. Neither the agency nor the state Legislature have changed the state academic standards to justify it, the plaintiffs said.

Most said they have children attending public schools and feared school-based Bible instruction would interfere with the religious or moral teachings they apply at home.

One family reported their child had to take a quiz at a public school about God and Biblical lessons, which they said made the non-religious student “feel marginalized and unwelcome at school.”

The Rev. Mitch Randall, a Baptist pastor from Cleveland County, urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Bible mandate and uphold the separation of church and state — a legal concept Walters has called a myth.

“As a Christian, I’m appalled by the use of the Bible — a sacred text — for Superintendent Walters’ political grandstanding,” Randall said in a statement.

Oklahoma City pastor the Rev. Lori Walke also is a plaintiff. Walke, of Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ, said the state violates religious freedoms when requiring schools to teach one particular religious text.

“The government has no business weighing in on such theological decisions,” Walke said in a statement.

Attorneys from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice are representing the plaintiffs.

Walke and most of the legal organizations involved in the case have sued the state of Oklahoma before on religious liberty grounds. They filed a lawsuit last year hoping to block the opening of the nation’s first Catholic charter school in Oklahoma.

The state Supreme Court struck down the Catholic charter school after Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued against the concept of a publicly funded religious school.

ACLU of Oklahoma executive director Tamya Cox-Touré said church-state separation is a “bedrock” of the nation’s founding principles.

“All families and students should feel welcome in our public schools and we must protect the individual right of students and families to choose their own faith or no faith at all,” Cox-Touré said in an announcement of Thursday’s court challenge.

Walters referred to the legal organizations involved in the case as “out-of-state, radical leftists who hate the principles our nation was founded upon.”

“I will never back down to the woke mob, no matter what tactic they use to try to intimidate Oklahomans,” he said.

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