A coalition of parents, students, teachers and faith leaders are asking the state’s highest court to block the state superintendent’s mandate to teach the Bible in public schools and his agency’s impending $3 million purchase of Bibles.
They argued that the Bible mandate violates constitutional protections of religious freedom and that the Department of Education doesn’t have the authority to spend state funds on Bibles or dictate schools’ curriculum or textbooks. The Oklahoma Department of Education is soliciting bids to purchase 55,000 King James Version Bibles. Additional specifications appeared to point to one Bible: Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, for which he receives a fee.
The coalition asks the court for an injunction to stop the state from further implementing the Bible mandate, including buying Bibles, and for the mandate and request for proposals to be withdrawn. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Coalition, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
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