On October 17, 2022, KTUL Channel 8 aired a story about an Owasso parent’s efforts to have a graphic novel removed from the school library. The book had been randomly checked out by his 14-year-old daughter. The parent described what he found in the book.
There was children with their penises showing that were urinating in each other’s faces. There was scenes, and this is graphic, images of ejaculation. There are scenes of teen sex. There are also scenes of a child, a child being raped in the book, and all in graphic depiction.[1]
The parent stated that when he first told school officials about it, they didn’t pay him much mind until he brought copies of the pages to the assistant superintendent who then, he says, pulled the book for review. The parent stated that he was very happy with that and thanked him and sent emails thanking them.[2]
The parent then attended a school board meeting on October 10, hoping the district would establish a policy that addressed his concerns about pornographic materials in the school. Apparently other parents in attendance voiced similar concerns to the board as well. According to the parent, those wanting pornographic materials removed from the school were accused of “just trying to ban books or burn books” in spite the parents claims that they were just trying to protect their children from pornography. In spite of their efforts, the board took no action to address a policy change on what books would be allowed in the school.[3]
After the meeting the parent spoke to school board member Brent England in the parking lot about the concerns of the parents. Within three or four days after the meeting the parent received a letter from Owasso School Superintendent Margaret Coates informing him that he had “committed one or more acts” that interfered “with the peaceful activities on District property.” Specifically, the letter stated, “You are hereby directed to leave the Owasso Public Schools and all of its grounds including sports events, sports venues, and not return.” The Channel 8 news reporter asked the parent if he could pick up his kids. The parent responded that, “I cannot pick up my children without written permission from Margaret Coates. It feels very retaliatory.”[4]
Subsequently, U.S. District Judge John Heil issued a temporary injunction that prevents Owasso Public Schools’ efforts to ban the parent from attending school board meetings, dropping off and picking up his children from school, and attending parent-teacher conferences and other extracurricular activities. The judge noted that it “is clear” that Owasso’s ban was “substantially motivated as a response to Plaintiff’s criticism of the Board’s decision and his petition for a redress of grievances” which is protected under the First Amendment.[5]
Pornography in Oklahoma’s K-12 schools is widespread and deeply embedded
Owasso Public Schools is not the only school system that has been found to have pornography in its libraries and classrooms. The State Board of Education recently voted to sanction Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma’s second largest district, by significantly reducing its accreditation status to “accreditation with warning” for violating the provisions of House Bill 1775 passed by the Oklahoma legislature in 2021. HB 1775 prohibits the promotion or teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in Oklahoma K-12 classrooms. The recent vote to sanction Tulsa Public Schools for violation of HB 1775 occurred the same week that the Twitter account, Libs of Tik Tok, highlighted two books available to Tulsa students in the school library—“Gender Queer” and “Flamer.” The Twitter account reported that the books contain sexually explicit and pornographic content. When the sexually-explicit images from the books were posted on Facebook, the tech giant quickly shut down the post citing its graphic content.[6]
Oklahoma Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat, called the news “appalling and nothing short of deplorable.” Further, he stated,
It is indefensible to have children exposed to images and material that is the definition of pornography. It makes no difference whether its same sex, opposing sex, or anything in between, children should never be able to view the images in a public school sanctioned library setting.[7]
State Representative Sherrie Conley, a former teacher and school administrator, warned that “materials such as these are not just in Tulsa Public schools but in other school libraries throughout the state.”[8]
Owasso is just one of many school boards across the nation that has tried to prevent parents and other critics from participating in school policy actions and decisions. Although present for years, these efforts significantly increased in 2021 with school administrators’ inclusion of critical race theory in classroom instruction. The National Association of School Boards in a letter to the Biden administration sought to label parental resistance as being equivalent to “a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes” and requested that federal law enforcement officials investigate protestors under federal anti-terrorism and hate—crimes laws. This was quickly followed by Attorney General Merrick Garland’s memorandum to the FBI to meet with state and local officials to develop “strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” Many state school boards associations across the nation denounced the NSBA’s actions and announced their departure from the NSBA. However, the Oklahoma State School Boards Association has never publicly denounced NSBA’s action and has continued its affiliation with the group.[9]
Pornography is just one of several weapons used by the purveyors of the liberal-woke-Marxist agenda aimed at the overt sexualization of elementary and secondary school children throughout the nation. In addition to inclusion of pornographic materials in libraries and classrooms, this overt and well-organized sexualization process includes legitimization and promotion of the LGBTQ philosophy and lifestyle. The LGBTQ agenda for K-12 schools includes promotion and use of cross-sex hormones, surgical procedures, and puberty blockers, all based on their perceived gender identity. Parents of K-12 students must be on constant alert for these and a host of other issues that have infiltrated many public school systems such as Marxist/socialist indoctrination and criteria race theory.
How can local communities once again gain control of their local schools boards and administrators?
The first step is to elect school board members who respect and reflect the Judeo-Christian values and morals upon which the nation was founded. But when the local school boards actions or lack thereof no longer represent or reflect those values and morals, the parents and local citizenry have a powerful voice residing in almost every community. This powerful group is comprised of the local churches which means, first and foremost the pastor, followed by their staff and board of deacons, and backed by the congregations.
Unfortunately, the voice of the church in America became silent during the last half of the 20th century as most pastors and their churches have substantially ceased to speak into and influence their community beyond the walls of the church. For several decades the silence of the church has extended far beyond silence about local affairs. This is the foremost cause of the nation’s moral, social, political, and cultural turmoil and decline. It appears this failure to speak into the various spheres of American life has infiltrated into a large majority of Owasso’s churches.
“Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless.”
Many believe the above quote originated with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the World War II German pastor who resisted the Nazis and was martyred on the direct order of Adolf Hitler at the end of the war in 1945. Although not directly attributable to Bonhoeffer, “it so well sums up what he desperately tried to communicate to those who believed they could safely stand on the sidelines in the battle of that time.”[10]
If we are not actively living out our faith by fighting the wickedness in society and the culture of our time (in the schools, government, business, popular culture, arts, entertainment, media, and so forth), God will view our inaction (neutrality) as participation in the enemy’s wicked cause. In other words, God will not find us guiltless. Here we speak of collective and individual guilt.
Eric Metaxas in his new book, Letter to the American Church, captures the essence of how the church has become silent in the face of evil.
…those who behave as though there is really nothing to worry about, who seem to think—as such prominent pastors as Andy Stanley and others do—that we ought to assiduously avoid fighting these threats and be “apolitical” are tragically mistaken, are burying their heads in the sand and exhorting others to do the same …Do we not realize that no good ever can come of such silence and inaction, that human beings whom God loves suffer when His own people fail to express boldly what He has said and why they fail to live as He has called them to live?[11]
Such silence has led American schools to where they are today.
The very youngest of children in schools are being fed pernicious ideas on the subject of sexuality—ideas with which their young minds are quite unable to cope, and to which their own parents object. Older children are being so confused by sexual activists that they agree to have their bodies mutilated, so they can never become the men and women God has created them to be.[12]
We cannot help but wonder where are all of the leading American pastors today on the issues of sexuality and transgender craziness. Are they afraid to speak? Like lemmings, it appears that local pastors across the nation have also lost their voices and backbones as well. The question I have for Owasso pastors is this, have you regularly spoken to your congregations about these issues? God calls us to speak truth to power. John the Baptist spoke truth to Herod, and it cost him his head. Jesus spoke truth to the religious leaders of his day knowing they would bring about His crucifixion.
Plan of action for Owasso pastors
Pastors must organize, speak, and act for Owasso’s K-12 students who are unable to defend them themselves from the vicious attacks from the enemy of our souls.
1. Preach frequently and frankly to your congregations with passion fired by the Holy Spirit about the evils of pornography, the LGBTQ agenda, Marxism and socialism, and other evils facing our children in the public schools?
2. Pastors should deliver formal notifications of their churches’ opposition to any policies and practices that allow, tolerate, or encourage the presence of pornographic materials in Owasso Public Schools. This document should be signed by the pastor and every congregational member willing to do so and delivered to the Owasso School Board and Superintendent.
3. Encourage like-minded pastors willing to break their silence to come together as a group and attend an Owasso School Board with spokespersons prepared to demand changes to school’s policies and practices that would eradicate pornographic materials from K-12 classrooms and libraries, both now and in the future.
4. Using both social and print media, the Owasso ministerial alliance should publicly addressed the dangers of pornography and other philosophies and practices that promote sexualization of our children in public schools.
Removal of pornography from Owasso Pubic Schools is just one tiny skirmish in the culture wars. Fellow Christians and other defenders of the Judeo-Christian worldview are called to soldier in a much larger ongoing conflict which I described eight years ago in my book Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity.
Apart from the apostate church, there is also a faithful but mostly silent church in America that is content to preach the gospel and ignore the culture. Erwin Lutzer wrote, “whether in Nazi German or America, believers cannot choose to remain silent under the guise of preaching the Gospel…we must live out the implications of the cross in every area of our lives. We must be prepared to submit to the Lordship of Christ in all ‘spheres’.” Yet, as we live out the implications of the cross in every area of our lives, we must understand that the culture wars in which we soldier for Christ are not about maintaining the American dream however one may define it. Rather, the culture wars are about restoring the biblical understanding of truth in all spheres of our national life. To do so one must speak the truth in the face of lies, stand on biblical principles when others compromise, and take right actions in spite of consequences.[13]
Larry G. Johnson
Sources:
[1] Burt Mummolo, “Owasso parent banned from school grounds after asking for pornographic book to be removed,”
KTUL Channel 8, October 17, 2022, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/owasso-parent-banned-from-school-grounds-after-asking-for-pornographic-book-to-be-removed/ar-AA134R0f
The video version of this telecast may be viewed at: https://ktul.com/news/local/owasso-parent-banned-from-school-grounds-after-asking-for-poronographic-book-to-be-removed
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ray Carter, “Court prevents Owasso school from banning parent critic,” Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs,
November 2, 2022, https://www.ocpathink.org/post/court-prevents-owasso-school-from-banning-parent-critic
[6] Ray Carter, “Concerns over racism, porn lead to Tulsa school sanction,” Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs,
July 28, 2022, https://www.ocpathink.org/post/concerns-over-racism-porn-lead-to-tulsa-school-sanction
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Eric Metaxas, Letter to the American Church, (Washington, D.C.: Salem Books, 2022), p. 51.
[11] Ibid, pp. xiii, 51.
[12] Ibid, p. 84.
[13] Larry G. Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, (Owasso, Oklahoma: Anvil House
Publishing, 2016) p. 265.
Owasso School Board Meeting 11/14/2022
I was disgusted at your allowance of two teenage students to give public comments at the meeting. The school board is the lawful connection to the taxpayers and these two students are not taxpayers. This should never be allowed. I also feel that their defense for graphic novels (comic books) was very childish and indicted them into being pawns of a perverted employee of the library. Defending vile and pornographic materials within a high school library is an ugly exploitation by a perverted person. The references to free speech and censorship were exaggerated beyond any reasonable logic. They proved the case that exposure to vile and pornographic books will cause damage to the moral character of a young person. I think you need to demand that the school superintendent investigate how these teenagers were exploited and if a school employee was involved then they should be fired and criminal charges should be sought from the County Sheriff. At the minimum, I think the Librarian responsible for placing these materials on the library shelf should be severely reprimanded.
The school board has a tremendous responsibility for how our tax dollars are spent, yet no recognition was ever made of this responsibility. I think the board has forgotten what their primary job is. Our tax dollars were used to purchase vile and pornographic books and your job on the Board is responsible for all expenditures. This makes you directly responsible under the law. It is against the law to make vile and pornographic material available to minors.
You cannot know every book placed in the library but the Superintendent is under your charge and the Librarian is under the Superintendents charge. You need to establish more authority over the Superintendent. This must never happen again. The public school library should never provide free reading materials to consumers of vile and pornographic materials. Written fictional materials that titillate sexual or violent imagination should not be placed in public school libraries. I can accept a written true and historical description of a crime or injustice that has descriptions of fact but never fictional stories.
The purpose of a school library is not to promote free speech. It is to provide good character learning materials for young minds. If there is disagreement among librarians on this matter then we should fire them all. Public service is tied to the tax money provided and free speech is a private right. The private rights of the students, parents, and school employees are not being infringed. They can use their own money and buy whatever they like.