The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE) cannot force schools to incorporate the Bible and Christianity into new social studies standards. One religious freedom organization hailed the ruling as a victory for the separation of church and state.

In June 2024, Walters and the OSBE issued a guidance saying that K-12 school lessons should focus on the Bible’s influence on history, literature, music, and other arts and culture. Walters’ guidance commanded every classroom to contain a physical copy of the Bible and copies of the Ten Commandments, the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.

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After Walters released his guidance, about 33 Oklahoma parents, children, public school teachers, and faith leaders joined the lawsuit, Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall v. Ryan Walters, alleging that the guidance violated the separation of church and state and state rule-making laws. The plaintiffs in the case were represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.

AU said that Walters’ guidance were “replete with several dozen references to the Bible and Christianity while containing few mentions of other faiths; inaccurately present[ed] Bible stories as literal, historical facts; inaccurately proclaim[ed] the Bible’s and Christianity’s influence on the founding of America and the country’s laws; and require[d] other inaccurate teachings, including presenting disproven contentions about the legitimacy of the 2020 election and conveying as unquestioned truth the controversial theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a Chinese laboratory.”

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The lawsuit argued that Walters’ revised standards violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act and other procedural requirements because state education officials provided no notice to the public or the state education board that the final version of the standards submitted to the board for a vote was “substantially different from the version that had been publicly released.”

“The standards also run afoul of a statutory requirement that Oklahoma’s academic standards be accurate and age appropriate [and] … violate the Oklahoma Constitution’s religious-freedom protections by promoting and favoring one religion over others and over non-religion in public schools, including to especially impressionable first and second graders,” AU wrote.

In its ruling, the court prohibited the implementation of the new social studies standards and instructed state officials not to spend any state funds on them.

“Today’s ruling will help ensure that Oklahoma families – not politicians – get to decide how and when their children engage with religion,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “These new social studies standards would violate students’ and families’ religious freedom by promoting one version of Christianity and advancing Christian Nationalist disinformation. Not on our watch. Public schools are not Sunday schools.”

Brent Rowland, legal director of Oklahoma Appleseed, said, “This is a victory for transparency, fairness, and the constitutional rights of all Oklahomans. The authority to govern comes with accountability for making decisions in the full view of the people the government serves. Public school classrooms may not be used to endorse religious doctrine – no matter what the religion is or how many people follow it.”

Oklahoma schools (and Republicans) oppose Walters’ Christian Nationalism

By early August 2024, 46 superintendents said that their districts (including some of the state’s largest) would not require teachers to comply with Walters’ revised standards. Some superintendents cited an Oklahoma law that grants school districts discretion over instructional materials, others cited another state law forbidding the spending of school funds on religious material. Others noted that current academic standards approved by the Oklahoma legislature give schools the option to incorporate the Bible into their lessons but do not require them to do so.

Walters initially threatened schools that refused to comply with his directive. saying during a July 31, 2024 meeting of the State Board of Education, “Just because they are offended by it doesn’t mean they won’t do it. We will enforce the law and they will be held accountable.”

The Bible — which isn’t an authoritative history text, as elucidated by Notre Dame University — contains stories of “incest, [masturbation], bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide,” one Utah parent reportedly noted in March. The book also contains passages supporting slavery and advocating for the murder of LGBTQ+ people and of women who have pre-marital sex.

The Bible has a story about two daughters who get their dad drunk to have sex with him to become impregnated. The Bible also mentions a woman who fondly remembers her lover as having “the penis like a donkey and a flood of semen like a horse.”

Walters, who wants to ban LGBTQ+ books, has previously pushed the transphobic lie about schools providing litterboxes to students who identify as cats. He also referred to teachers’ unions as “terrorist organizations” and illegally tried to make rules banning LGBTQ+ books and transgender bathroom access in schools.

He has appeared at events hosted by Moms for Liberty, a right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ “parent’s rights” group that has been called an extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He also appointed Chaya Raichik, an anti-LGBTQ+ activist who goes by Libs of Tik Tok online, as a Library Media Advisor for the state (even though she has no educational experience, doesn’t reside in Oklahoma, and has made posts that have led to bomb threats against students).

Walters’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies have come under intense scrutiny, with many allies and advocates accusing him of fostering an environment of hostility toward LGBTQ+ students. The Human Rights Campaign and over 350 LGBTQ+ rights organizations, civil rights groups, and leaders sent an open letter to the Oklahoma state legislature demanding Walters be removed from office.

Oklahoma Republican lawmakers have called for an impeachment investigation into Walters’ handling of the OSED.

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