Oklahoma State Superintendent of Instruction Ryan Walters released a statement today claiming he has filed a lawsuit against the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
FFRF, a national state/church watchdog, has not yet received a copy of the suit.
“FFRF, as a defender of our Constitution, expects to continue our important work in Oklahoma regardless of frivolous lawsuits by Walters,” said FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott.
Walters says he and the Oklahoma State Department of Education are suing FFRF “for its blatant attack on the religious freedoms and Christians [sic] of Oklahoma students.” His press says, “The legal action comes after FFRF issued a cease-and-desist letter to an Oklahoma school for allowing a student to pray over the intercom, threatening litigation if the school did not comply with their radical agenda.”
FFRF suspects Walters may be referencing its letter of complaint to Achille Public Schools over teachers reading bible verses to open elementary and high school classes and beginning each day with mandatory prayer over the intercom.
These are clear Establishment Clause violations the Supreme Court explicitly addressed in the early 1960s and found unconstitutional. Accordingly, the school district indicated in a response this year that it was now in compliance with the First Amendment.
The state superintendent also claims the “case is more than a single school.” FFRF surmises he may be referencing its complaint against Prague Elementary School, which had been hosting daily prayers during its morning announcements. In this instance, too, in November 2023, FFRF was able to persuade the school district to stop the violations.
FFRF is part of a coalition helping sue Walters and the state education department over attempts to spend taxpayer money on bibles and bible-infused instructional materials. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has temporarily blocked those expenditures on behalf of 32 Oklahoma families, teachers and faith leaders who are part of the lawsuit. FFRF has also condemned his proposal to insert overt Christian references into social studies standards for Oklahoma public schools.
FFRF has repeatedly called on Walters to resign for violating his oath of office by promoting religion in public schools, such as when he personally led prayers over the intercom at Prague Elementary School. Walters responded at that time by saying, “I hope every Oklahoman prays that this radical, out-of-state, Soros-funded group learns about our Constitution and the rights it guarantees.” (Needless to say, FFRF regrets that it does not receive funding from George Soros.)
Walters has worked with a veritable who’s who of Christian nationalist propagandists, including misquote peddler David Barton, conservative radio host Dennis Prager and Project 2025 creator Kevin Roberts. Walters has called for the promotion of Christianity in every classroom, the unconstitutional display of the Ten Commandments, and threw his support to a Catholic public-funded charter school, a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Walters has made frequent outlandish comments, such as claiming Oklahoma has had “state-sponsored atheism” and that the bible is “a foundational document in our nation’s history.”
True to form, Walters engages in hyperbole in his statement announcing the lawsuit: “Oklahoma will never be bullied by radical, out-of-state atheists who use intimidation and harassment against kids.” He then accuses FFRF, a group that works to uphold the First Amendment, of “trampling” on it.
“Ryan Walters is a loose cannon bent on destroying secular public education in Oklahoma,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We are proud of FFRF’s record of support for true religious freedom and the rights of conscience of a captive audience of schoolchildren to be free from government-sponsored indoctrination in our public schools.”
FFRF remains undeterred and will continue to work to uphold the constitutional principle of a secular government, which protects the rights of all Americans, regardless of their views on religion. The nonprofit association is confident that the courts will reject Walters’ meritless claims and reaffirm that public schools must remain free from religious coercion.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 42,000 members nationwide and hundreds in Oklahoma. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
