Earlier this week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dealt a temporary victory to petitioners in a lawsuit against State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ classroom Bible mandate.
Now, they’ve asked the court for another pause in a new Bible donation program. The lawsuit’s petitioners have now asked the court to intervene to stop the donation campaign for the God Bless the USA Bibles.
More than 30 parents, teachers and faith leaders filed the lawsuit in the Oklahoma Supreme Court last year over Walters’ directive to require Bibles in every classroom and to use them as an instructional resource.
The suit names Walters, the Oklahoma State Board of Education, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), and the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services. It was filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU and ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
According to the new filing Wednesday, the petitioners say the campaign falls under the same scope as the lawsuit’s original ask.
“The campaign plainly implements the [Bible] mandate, which requires that physical copies of the Bible be placed in every public school classroom,” the filing said. “The campaign also involves the spending of state funds to further the mandate, including on the shipping expenses and OSDE employee time associated with distribution of Bibles.”
The filing argues that OSDE lacks the statutory authority to distribute Bibles in schools, citing state law prohibiting the department from paying freight or transportation costs of textbooks. Additionally, it claims using public money or property for the support of any system of religion violates the Oklahoma Constitution.
“To be sure, private parties are free to offer donations of items — including Bibles — to school districts, but state officials cross the constitutional line when they organize, promote, and participate in a campaign to distribute donated copies of a particular religious text to schools,” the filing said.
It claims OSDE must also have approval from the State Board of Education to accept donations, and cites a law it said was removed from OSDE’s website on Monday.
The petitioners asked the court to order that until a final decision in the case is made, the respondents refrain from any action implementing the donation campaign and “engaging in, participating in, or facilitating” the distribution of classroom Bibles.
In addition, petitioners asked the court to declare the campaign is unlawful, an injunction that prohibits OSDE from implementing the campaign, and to require OSDE to cancel the campaign.
Walters responded to the new filing in a statement to StateImpact:
“No surprise that the same left-wing groups pushing state-sponsored atheism are attacking our work to get Bibles back in classrooms,” Walters said. “They’ve spent years trying to erase Bibles from our schools, and they can’t stand seeing parents and educators fighting back.”
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