Oklahoma legislatures have passed the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act, through the House and is now waiting to be signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The bill (SB 404) passed with a 64-27 vote and protects against discrimination against religious organizations, especially when it comes to receiving state tax dollars.
The bill prohibits exclusion from government funds, benefits, programs, or exemptions based solely on the religious character or affiliation of a person or entity, the bill states.
Rep. Jon Echols (R-OKC), who co-wrote the bill, along with other Republican supporters, said money shouldn’t be withheld from organizations just based on religious beliefs and should be given the same funding rights as other schools in the state.
“But if there was ever a reason for this bill, it’s the fact that it’s taken us two hours to do something that, replace the word religion with the word gender in the bill, replace religion with the word sex in the bill and this would be unthinkable to have a two-hour debate over,” Echols said in a statement during the session.
Sen. Julie Daniels (R-Bartlesville) also cited a recent Supreme Court case involving state funds for religious schools to prove why SB404 is needed in Oklahoma.
“In recent years, there were three Supreme Court cases quite close together that all dealt with the establishment of religion issues,” Daniels said in a statement. “And just incidentally, they were all involving schools — religious schools being denied certain benefits that were being offered to other schools. And basically, we updated [state statute] to say, ‘You can’t deny a benefit largely on the basis of the character of the person or the institution being religious.'”
Bill Unnecessary, Democrats Say
Democrats argue the bill is unnecessary and accuse the authors of not proving actual examples of discrimination.
“Discrimination against religious institutions does not happen in Oklahoma,” Rep. Monroe Nichols (D-Tulsa) said in a statement. “There’s another intent: to allow for public dollars to flow into private religious schools, something that currently doesn’t happen in Oklahoma.”
Gov. Stitt has not said if he would sign the bill, but he expressed his support for religious charter schools in a letter to Attorney General Drummond supporting religious freedom in Oklahoma.
“As Governor, I wish to make clear that I support not only the pluralism promoted by Oklahoma charter school laws but also the religious liberty of all Oklahomans and to express my confidence that the people of Oklahoma do as well,” Stitt said in his letter.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs documents in an undated photo downloaded on Oct. 14, 2022. Courtesy of State of Oklahoma
A Catholic church is currently revising an application to the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board for a Catholic virtual charter school with questions about its legality and its administrative setup.
Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, said the bill could bring some answers to the constitutional questions about the legality of a religious charter school in Oklahoma.
“This was a bill that was in the works and planned on long before any question related to a Catholic charter school was even on the radar,” Farley said in a statement. “So any insinuation that the two things are connected is completely false. This bill was drafted long before [Attorney General Gentner] Drummond’s opinion came out.”
Representative Nichols also pointed out that using religious beliefs to receive funding for religious charter schools isn’t the right approach.
“To suggest that God, that religion is being discriminated against simply because there’s a financial interest somewhere in a specific area is the wrong thing to do,” Nichols said in a statement.
Mickey Dollens (D-OKC) voiced his opinion to separate churches from the state government funding.
“One of the wealthiest religious institutions in the world is claiming a ’substantial burden' because Oklahoma won’t give them tax dollars to fund their church-school combo? Sounds like divine entitlement to me... Vote NO on SB 404.#SeperationOfChurchAndState,” Dollens Tweeted.
Elizabeth Dowell
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Elizabeth is a SoCal based reporter covering issues in Los Angeles and throughout the state for The Epoch Times. She is passionate about creating truthful and accurate stories for readers to connect with. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys writing poetry, playing basketball, embarking on new adventures and spending quality time with her family and friends.
