Mustang schools cancel Hobby Lobby backed Bible course

Mustang Public Schools, which earlier this year had adopted an elective Bible course, is cancelling those plans, according to the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FRFF). The course was developed and backed by Steve Green, the president of the Hobby Lobby arts and crafts store chain. Mustang is a suburb of Oklahoma City.

Controversy surrounded the consideration of the course, because it appeared that the Mustang School Board had held separate, small meetings with Green and the course developers, to circumvent Oklahoma’s public meeting law.

"This was something that we wanted to be able to have conversation about and ask questions. If we have the media and the public coming into Hobby Lobby headquarters with us, that can just be confusing and awkward since we're all seeing it for the first time," Superintendent Sean McDaniel said in an interview with the Associated Press in May.

According to FFRF, the district announced the course’s cancellation in response to a follow-up open records request to the school district from FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel, in conjunction with Americans United Senior Litigation Counsel Greg Lipper, ACLU of Oklahoma Legal Director Brady Henderson and Daniel Mach of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

"In summary, the topic of a Bible course in the Mustang School District is no longer a discussion item nor is there a plan to provide such a course in the foreseeable future," wrote Superintendent Sean McDaniel in his emailed response.

McDaniel said two "non-negotiables" the school had requested from Hobby Lobby were not met, namely that the district be permitted to review the final curriculum before introducing it, and that Hobby Lobby commit to providing legal coverage to the district.

According to FFRF, its concern from the beginning was that Green and his staff were using the Mustang School District for their own ends, persuading it to adopt an unconstitutional curriculum for which the Mustang taxpayers, not Green, would ultimately pay the court costs for the inevitable court battle. Both FRFF and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State had warned the school district that “the curriculum was problematic and its use in schools might spark litigation.”

“Education officials in Mustang did the wise thing,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Objective study about religion in public schools is permissible, but this curriculum was essentially an extended Sunday School lesson.”

The Mustang effort was seen as a rollout test of the religious curriculum by the Green family, which reportedly had plans to place the course in schools across the country after the initial trial in the Mustang Public Schools.

Ayesha N. Khan, legal director for Americans United, said the district made the right call. “There is a right way and wrong way to teach about the Bible and other religious texts in public schools,” Khan said. “The Hobby Lobby curriculum is an example of the wrong way. Education officials in Mustang have saved themselves many headaches by backing out of this ill-conceived plan.”

By Rob Howard, Associate Editor

Prepared from press releases by FRFF and Americans United, in addition to an AP story on May 14, 2014.

The Gayly – November 26, 2014 @ 10:30am