Oklahoma superintendent unveils office to protect religious freedom, patriotism in schools

The Oklahoma State Department of Education introduced a new office last week to protect religious freedom and patriotism in public schools. Education Superintendent Ryan Walters in a video said Oklahoma will no longer tolerate what he characterized as leftist attacks on religious liberty and the ridicule of American patriotism. The Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism will support the constitutional rights of teachers and students in cases when those rights are threatened, Walters’ office said in a formal statement. The release specifically cited a previous incident when an advocacy group pushed a northeastern Oklahoma school into removing Biblical passages from the classroom. The Constitution guarantees a teacher's right of expression and a baseless lawsuit won't change that, Walters said at the time.

How does the office plan to go about protecting freedoms? The Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism will conduct investigations into abuse claims of religious liberty or patriotic sentiments, Walters’ office explained in a release. The department added that it would soon release instructions ensuring the right to pray in school is protected and that the education principles outlined in President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda are implemented.

Walters described his Friday video as an introduction to the new office and ended it with a prayer. He requested that districts distribute the video to parents and make it mandatory viewing for all students. Oklahoma City Public Schools pushed back on the order and released a message to teachers and staff, obtained by WORLD, confirming it would not be showing the new department’s video. The state’s attorney general’s office further told WORLD that Walters had no statutory power to require all students to watch a video.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma and several other organizations pushed back on Walters’ video as well. Requiring students to watch Walters’ prayer video violates their religious freedoms, the ACLU alleged in a Friday letter to the superintendent. The Department of Education must protect religious freedom for all students regardless of their personal beliefs, or risk alienating and discriminating against students, a group statement added.

Dig deeper: Read my report on parents, teachers, and clergy suing Oklahoma over the Bible being used as a classroom resource.