Norman, OK — American Atheists, a national civil rights organization, has sent a letter to Little Axe Public Schools after receiving a complaint from a concerned parent who requested anonymity out of fear for their family’s safety. They report that James Taylor — a history and government teacher, pastor, and Republican candidate for Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction — is using his classroom to display campaign materials and promote his own religious and political views to students, including their child.
According to the complaint, Taylor’s public school classroom features campaign signs, a DVD he produced titled Critical Race Theory vs. The Bible, as well as his book, It’s Biblical, Not Political, which is described as “a conservative manifesto on how to vote with God’s Perspective” and features bullets and a Bible on its front cover.
American Atheists received this complaint days after Little Axe Public Schools separately stated that Taylor, whose campaign website prioritizes “accountable use of school funding,” had improperly used district resources, including his classroom, to produce videos for his electoral campaign.
“We taxpayers in Oklahoma have a right to expect that public resources will be used for education — not electioneering. And we parents in Oklahoma deserve to know that public school teachers will teach our kids — not preach to them,” said Tim Ward, Oklahoma State Director for American Atheists. “You can’t be against ‘ideology’ in schools while surrounding a captive audience with your own political and religious dogma. Public school classrooms belong to all of us, and they should reflect or, at minimum, respect all the faith and freethought traditions in our great state.”
American Atheists’ letter to Little Axe argues that Taylor’s alleged classroom displays raise serious legal concerns by promoting a particular religiopolitical perspective in what state and federal laws require to be a neutral, nonsectarian, and nonpartisan setting. The national civil rights organization has asked the district to investigate the allegations and ensure that all students’ and parents’ constitutional rights are protected.
“Mr. Taylor frequently invokes the Constitution, but if these reports are accurate, his conduct in the classroom is in clear violation of it,” said Geoffrey T. Blackwell, Legal Director for American Atheists. “The First Amendment plainly prohibits the use of public resources in support of any one religion, and an educator who uses their position of authority in the classroom to evangelize their religious beliefs to their student abuses the authority that their community has entrusted to them.”
The complaint underscores why American Atheists supported Oklahoma House Bill 3488 during this year’s legislative session. Introduced by Representative Michelle McCane (District 72), the “Student Secular Bill of Rights” would have protected Oklahoma students against religious instruction and coercion. Although the bill, which American Atheists helped draft, failed to advance out of committee this session, the concerns raised in this complaint demonstrate why such legislation is so urgently needed.
Nick Fish, President of American Atheists, added: “This is unfortunately only the latest example of a troubling trend we’re seeing across the country of culture warriors claiming they’re fighting ‘secular’ indoctrination in public schools while demanding that their own sectarian worldview gets special treatment. But church-state separation has never been about excluding religion from public life. It’s about protecting religious freedom for all by ensuring public institutions don’t favor one faith over another. It’s how we defend the civil rights of every American, no matter your belief or lack thereof.”
Oklahomans who have experienced similar violations are encouraged to contact American Atheists for assistance.
