The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ordered a halt on any attempt by the State Department of Education to purchase Bibles for public schools, according to court documents.
It’s the first major news stemming from a lawsuit filed against State Superintendent Ryan Walters, OSDE and the State Board of Education for seeking to mandate Bible instruction in public classrooms.
The lawsuit, filed by over 30 parents and faith leaders in October, seeks to end the mandate which a number of school districts have ignored.
Despite the suit, Walters has continued to send out requests for proposals (RFPs) in the hunt for sellers.
Before the high court’s order, Walters announced a partnership with musician Lee Greenwood to donate “God Bless the USA” branded Bibles to the state, which are named after Greenwood’s famous song of the same name. Those Bibles have been endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Colleen McCarty is the executive director of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, one of the legal nonprofits representing the parents and faith leaders.
McCarty believes Walters and his department are trying to manipulate the law to their own advantage.
“It’s been concerning for us as the legal team to continue to see the OSDE put out an RFP for the Bibles and then they retracted it, and then they put out another RFP for the Bibles, and then last week retracted it in favor of this ‘Bibles for Oklahoma’ donation scheme,” she said.
When asked for comment on the court’s order, Walters responded with a written statement: “The Bible has been a cornerstone of our nation’s history and education for generations. We will continue fighting to ensure students have access to this foundational text in the classroom.”
McCarty said the Bible mandate violates both the Oklahoma Constitution and the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which separates church and state.
She said mandating any religious text is a slippery slope.
“If you start putting Bibles in schools, then the state’s going to have to start spending money on the Quran, it’s going to have to start spending money on the Torah, it’s going to have to start spending money on the book of Satan,” she said.
The Satanic Temple said they plan to utilize laws around religious study for their own purposes.
“Decisions about what children learn about religion should be made in the home and the house of worship, not in the public schools, not by Superintendent Walters or any other state officials,” said Alex Luchenitser, an attorney with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, another nonprofit representing the petitioners.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Oklahoma and the Freedom from Religious Foundation are also part of the petitioners’ legal team.
