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MAY 27, 2025
May 27, 2025 (Tulsa, Oklahoma) — The Sikh Coalition is writing to share updates about Oklahoma’s recent state standards process. While these new standards have ultimately once again included Sikhi (a continuation of our 2019 victory to include it for the first time), we remain deeply concerned about many aspects of their content and the process by which they were rushed into law.
Oklahoma’s latest standards elevate Christianity, especially biblical stories, above all other faiths in public school classrooms. Christianity is mentioned more than 30 times across grade levels, while other religious traditions such as Sikhi, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Indigenous spiritual practices are barely referenced; while Christianity will be taught to children as early as second grade, students will not learn about Sikhi until high school. This imbalance risks marginalizing youth from Oklahoma’s non-Christian communities; it also sends a clear message that one belief system is more important than others, and it undermines the constitutional obligation for public schools to remain religiously neutral.
The Sikh Coalition and our partners in the Coalition of Religious Freedom in Public Schools (of which we are a co-chair) repeatedly raised concerns about this imbalance. In February, we coordinated a formal sign-on letter to the Oklahoma State Board of Education, joined by more than 30 religious and nonreligious organizations opposing the proposed standards; we also worked with partners to submit public comments and encourage members of many faith communities to contact their state legislators. Additionally, we spoke out repeatedly and connected with state lawmakers who argued that the process around these standards was rushed. We also continue to raise concerns about the consequences of their eventual implementation in the 2025-2026 academic school year—including the estimated implementation cost of $33 million due to textbook and classroom changes, as well as a proposal to purchase 55,000 taxpayer-funded Bibles and mandate classroom videos featuring a Christian prayer.
Unfortunately, such violations of the principle of religious neutrality in public schools are not limited to Oklahoma. In Texas, we have worked alongside our local sangat to push back against curriculum changes that would add biblical references into K-5 education as well as bills that would require the display of the Christian Ten Commandments in every school classroom. As a co-lead of the Coalition for Religious Freedom in Public Schools, we continue to monitor similar moves to elevate Christianity in our schools; so far, we are in the process of conducting similar work in Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Arizona, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.
The Sikh Coalition will continue to stand for teaching about all religions in a constitutionally-appropriate way, because we know such inclusive education helps to combat bias-based bullying against our and other youth. This includes a continued focus on ensuring that Sikhi is included in state social studies standards across the country. We also continue to believe that classroom instruction and school services and programs that specifically serve Sikh youth and youth from other marginalized communities are both legal and important; learn more about that argument and review a critical resource here.
As always, the Sikh Coalition urges you to practice your faith fearlessly.
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