**Oklahoma Superintendent Faces Lawsuit Over Classroom Bible Mandate**

A group comprising parents, teachers, and religious leaders is suing Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters over his mandate requiring Bible instruction in classrooms. The plaintiffs are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to intervene and stop the implementation of Walters' directive, which also involves using $3 million in state funds to purchase Bibles.

The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, claims that Walters' mandate violates state law and breaches constitutional provisions on religious freedom. The plaintiffs argue that the directive encroaches upon the parents' rights to manage their children's religious and moral upbringing. They also contend that the mandate forces students into coercive religious instruction that may conflict with their personal beliefs. Additionally, the lawsuit points out the predicament faced by teachers who may be forced to teach religious doctrines they do not agree with, under the threat of losing their teaching licenses.

Furthermore, the legal filing states that the allocation of taxpayer money to buy Bibles misappropriates state funds, diverting them from their intended public purposes to support a particular religious tradition. Named in the lawsuit are Walters, the Oklahoma State Education Department, the State Board of Education, and other government officials.

In a public statement on social media platform X, Walters expressed pride in reintroducing the Bible to classrooms and vowed not to back down to what he described as the "woke mob." However, he has not directly commented on the lawsuit itself.

This suit adds to a growing list of legal challenges Walters has faced since becoming state superintendent last year. Local reports from KTUL indicate that Walters' office has incurred over $100,000 in legal fees from at least 15 lawsuits. This recent legal action is the second to challenge the classroom Bible mandate.

Walters' tenure has been marked by controversy, fueled by his right-wing Christian nationalist agenda and the promotion of culture war issues. His June directive to require Bible instruction in classrooms has met significant opposition, with several school district superintendents openly stating their refusal to comply. Walters has defended the policy, claiming that excluding the Bible's influence on American history from education is tantamount to "academic malpractice."

Further criticism arose earlier this month when it was revealed that the bidding process for supplying Bibles to classrooms had been so narrowly defined that only one particular version, Donald Trump's "God bless the USA" Bible, met the criteria.