OKLAHOMA CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit by the ACLU and other leftist groups challenging a 2024 mandate requiring Bibles be kept in classrooms and that the Bible be taught.
The dismissal of the lawsuit comes after newly appointed state school superintendent Lindel Fields announced that he had no intention of following his predecessor’s intention of returning Biblical principles to public education, which rendered the legal action moot.
Fields and six other new members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education also told the justices that they would not use taxpayer money to buy classroom Bibles or “biblically-based character education materials.”
The high court in September blocked the state’s new social studies standards that mention the Bible and Jesus’ teachings and previously blocked Bible purchases.
Ryan Walters, the former state superintendent who had issued the pro-Bible guidance, took umbrage with the court’s ruling in September, which he said opposed “conservative values.”
“The Oklahoma Supreme Court is embarrassing and clearly out of step with Oklahomans,” observed Walters. “They’re ignoring the fact that in other states, the Bible is openly taught as the cornerstone of Western civilization. Christianity, American exceptionalism, and conservative values are under attack, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court is leading the assault.”
“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone,” explained Walters last year. “Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation. This is not merely an educational directive but a crucial step in ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country.”
“Until the 1960s, if you walked into a schoolhouse, you were going to see the Bible,” he said. “You were going to hear teaching from the Bible, (and) you were going to hear a lot of literary references to the Bible as well. It’s the number one bestselling book in American history (…) if that doesn’t qualify for a piece of literature that should be in the classroom, I don’t know what book would qualify.”
After leaving his position as state school superintendent in September, Walters now serves as CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, which aims to help educators “exercise their First Amendment rights and support the right of every educator in America to pursue excellence in the classroom free of ideological interference.”
