Oklahoma City – A coalition of parents, educators, and clergy from Oklahoma has initiated legal action aimed at preventing the state’s education leader from mandating the incorporation of Bible teachings in public school curricula for students in grades 5 through 12.
The lawsuit, presented to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, also seeks to halt Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters from allocating $3 million for purchasing Bibles to support this requirement.
The legal complaint argues that this directive breaches the Oklahoma Constitution by utilizing taxpayer funds to promote religious beliefs, while also favoring a specific faith by mandating the use of a Protestant Bible. Furthermore, it contends that Walters and the state Board of Education lack the authority to impose requirements for instructional materials.
Erika Wright, one of the plaintiffs and a parent of two school-age children, expressed her views, stating, “As parents, my husband and I have the primary responsibility to determine how and when our children engage with the Bible and religious teachings. It is not appropriate for any politician or public school authority to interfere in such personal decisions.” Wright is also the founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition.
The group is backed by several civil rights organizations, which include the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.
According to the lawsuit, the initial “request for proposal” issued by the State Department of Education for purchasing Bibles seemed to be specifically designed to coincide with Bibles previously endorsed by former President Donald Trump, priced at $59.99 each. Subsequently, the request was modified upon advice from state procurement officials.
This lawsuit marks the second legal challenge against Walters’ mandate in Oklahoma; another lawsuit is already underway in Mayes County, filed in June by a resident from Locust Grove.
In a recent statement shared on his X account, Walters expressed his determination, claiming he would “never yield to the woke mob.” He further stated, “Recognizing the Bible’s influence on our nation in its appropriate historical context was standard practice in America up until the 1960s. Its absence has coincided with a sharp decline in the quality of American education.”
Walters, who previously worked as a public school teacher and was elected in 2022, campaigned on a promise of combating what he termed “woke ideology,” along with efforts to ban certain books from school libraries and removing educators he describes as “radical leftists” from schools.