More than 30 religious leaders, teachers and parents filed a lawsuit July 1 to block Oklahoma’s plan to implement Scripture-based social studies standards for K-12 schools.

Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall v. Ryan Walters urges the Oklahoma Supreme Court to grant an injunction preventing the fall 2025 launch of the curriculum because it promotes Christianity to public school students.

The curriculum was introduced by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters in December and approved in February by the state Board of Education. Both are defendants in the new litigation.

“The new curriculum standards are replete with several dozen references to the Bible and Christianity while containing few mentions of other faiths,” according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the  civil rights groups representing plaintiffs in the action.

“The new curriculum standards are replete with several dozen references to the Bible and Christianity while containing few mentions of other faiths.”

“The lawsuit demonstrates how these references target impressionable elementary-school children as young as first graders; inaccurately present Bible stories as literal, historical facts; inaccurately proclaim the Bible and Christianity’s influence on the founding of America and the country’s laws; and favor Christianity over other faiths and beliefs in other ways,” the suit states.

The litigation is just the latest in a series of lawsuits Oklahoma has faced over Christian nationalism in public education and especially Walters’ persistent efforts to infuse conservative Christian beliefs into the classroom.

In March, the Oklahoma Supreme Court temporarily blocked school officials from purchasing $3 million worth of Bibles pending the outcome of Walke v. Walters, a 2024 lawsuit opposing Walters’ mandate that Scripture is to be taught in every classroom. Americans United and Oklahoma Appleseed also are part of the litigation against Ryan’s Bible mandate.

Then in May, the U.S. Supreme Court shot down an attempt to launch a publicly funded religious charter school in Oklahoma. The 4-4 decision in OKPLAC Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School  found the proposed St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in violation of the state and U.S. constitutions.

And a separate lawsuit was filed in state district court May 7 by parents, grandparents and teachers challenging the approval process the state Board of Education and Walters used in selecting the faith-based social studies standards, Oklahoma Voice reported. That case was quickly dismissed by a county district judge.

Mike Hunter, the attorney in that case and a former Oklahoma secretary of state, vowed to appeal that dismissal. “This case is an important one for the Supreme Court to be the final word on. It affects hundreds of thousands of young people in Oklahoma public schools. It deserves a review by the highest court in the state, and that’s what we’ll be seeking.”

Ryan, however, continues to insist he’s doing nothing wrong. The goal of using Bibles and Scripture-based teaching materials in public schools is not to proselytize but to teach the history of Christianity’s role in forming the nation and state, he says.

“Oklahoma kids will be taught facts, not indoctrination,” Ryan said last month. “They will be taught to critically think and not to become liberal activism.”

Mitch Randall

But labeling religious indoctrination as historical teaching is highly offensive to people of faith and harms teachers and students, said Mitch Randall, a Baptist minister, CEO of Good Faith Media and lead plaintiff in the new action. “To reduce the Bible to a history book — rather than treating it as a theological text — does a disservice to public school students, their families, their teachers and those who consider the Bible to be a book of faith.”

Using public funds to finance state-funded religious education also is as offensive as it is unconstitutional, Randall added.

“As a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, I am especially bothered by my tax dollars supporting state-mandated religious instruction. It’s a painful reminder of the forced religious proselytization my family members experienced in Native American boarding schools in Oklahoma.”

Attorneys for Randall and 32 other plaintiffs said the action will challenge the religious and historical accuracy of the curriculum and its promotion of Christian nationalist political theories.

“The lawsuit cites numerous writings from scholars to rebut historical and religious inaccuracies, as well as repeated examples of Walters’ remarks that make clear the new standards were designed to promote and favor Christianity. The lawsuit also explains that the new standards require other inaccurate teachings, including by presenting disproven contentions about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and by conveying as unquestioned truth the controversial theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a Chinese laboratory.”

Lisa Wolfe

Plaintiff Lisa Wolfe, a minister and professor of religion at Oklahoma City University, objected to the narrow brand of Christianity enshrined in the state’s social studies curriculum.

“I am raising my children in the United Church of Christ and we do not believe that the Bible must be interpreted as historically accurate. Oklahoma’s new social studies standards promote a particular form of Christianity and favor interpretations of the Bible to which my family does not subscribe. Furthermore, as a scholar of religion, I object to the many historical inaccuracies included in these new standards, which will degrade the quality of my children’s education.”

It is not the state but Oklahoma’s families who should decide how and when children are instructed in matters of faith, said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United. “If implemented, these new social studies standards will violate students’ and families’ religious freedom by promoting one version of Christianity and advancing Christian nationalist disinformation.”

“These standards violate core constitutional principles and undermine trust in our schools and democracy,” said Brent Rowland, legal director at Oklahoma Appleseed. “Every public school classroom — likely a child’s first personal encounter with their government — must be inclusive and welcoming, and nurture curiosity, not impose religious or political agendas. Our lawsuit defends educational integrity and the public’s right to open, accountable government, and it defends the family as the source of the child’s religious upbringing.”

Original Article – Another lawsuit filed to stop Bible-based curriculum in Oklahoma – Baptist News Global