Opponents of a bill I authored to protect students’ religious expression in schools have claimed that freedom of expression isn’t a problem in Oklahoma schools. I beg to differ.

A school in my district was sued over a Ten Commandments display and threatened with a lawsuit over the use of the word “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. This has led to an atmosphere in which religiously tolerant schools are afraid to allow any expression of faith, even the constitutionally protected and Supreme Court-supported expression of faith by students.

Recently, an Oklahoma City newscast covered a story about the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association disallowing kids to pray before games. I and other lawmakers questioned the organization about this policy. They incorrectly cited a U.S. Supreme Court case and said it gave them the authority to prevent kids from praying or at least from using the public address system to do so. They also stated that their policy prevented prayer before games.

The story showed how confused we have become on what is allowed and not allowed in schools. The OSSAA could not be more wrong in citing that Supreme Court case. I know because I used language from that case to author House Bill 2422, the Religious Freedom Antidiscrimination Act, which was approved 88-0 on the House floor.