What does the new year hold for religion stories that captivated us in 2023?

Carla Hinton, The Oklahoman
·5 min read
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Approval of the nation's first-ever state-funded religious school.

The opening of a multi-million-dollar religious shrine honoring an Oklahoma priest on the path to sainthood.

More than 120 churches split from their denomination

Religion played a key role in some of Oklahoma's biggest stories of 2023.

How will these stories play out in 2024? Here's a look at five of Oklahoma's attention-grabbing religion stories of 2023 and what's next for them in the coming year.

A man holds a banner bearing an image of Blessed Stanley Rother during the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine dedication Mass in February 2023 in Oklahoma City.
A man holds a banner bearing an image of Blessed Stanley Rother during the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine dedication Mass in February 2023 in Oklahoma City.

Charter school rules

Controversy erupted when the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa proposed the first state-funded religious charter school in America. In October, the Oklahoma Virtual Charter School Board approved the charter contract for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Charter School.

What's next: Oklahoma Catholic leaders have said St. Isidore is expected to open for the 2024-25 school year, but it faces several legal challenges. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, the Education Law Center and Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is also seeking to keep the school from opening, with the help of the courts. Both lawsuits argue the school would violate the Oklahoma Constitution, which prohibits sectarian control of public schools, and also violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Oklahoma United Methodist Conference delegates vote on a motion during a special disaffiliation meeting in April at Church of the Servant in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma United Methodist Conference delegates vote on a motion during a special disaffiliation meeting in April at Church of the Servant in Oklahoma City.

United Methodist split affects state churches

The disaffiliation trend in the international United Methodist Church played out in the state, with a total of 127 Oklahoma churches exiting the denomination. The splintering occurred over disagreements about the Scriptural compatibility of same-sex marriage and gay clergy ordination, among other concerns. There were 29 churches that ended their affiliation in October 2022, but the bulk of the 127 exiting churches broke from the United Methodist Church in 2023. Delegates with the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference ratified the disaffiliation requests of 55 churches in April, including that of St. Luke's, which had been the largest United Methodist church in the state. Another 43 churches disaffiliated in October.

What's next: Oklahoma United Methodist Conference leaders said the remaining churches are on the path toward healing while moving forward as a smaller, hopeful faith group. On an international scale, the debate over same-sex marriage and gay ordination is expected to continue while the denomination grapples with the loss of about a quarter of its 30,000 churches due to the widening rift.

Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine opens

In February, the $50 million Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine opened with a dedication Mass and a host of other activities. The huge celebration brought civic leaders, religious dignitaries and the faithful from around the country and the world to the 60-acre shrine complex in south Oklahoma City. The shrine helps share the life and legacy of Blessed Stanley Rother with the world. Rother, an Okarche native and Oklahoma priest, was serving in Guatemala when he was killed by unknown assailants in 1981. Rother is on the path to Roman Catholic sainthood. Pope Francis proclaimed him a martyr for the faith in 2016. He is the first martyr from the United States and the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified. The priest's remains are entombed in the shrine's chapel.

What's next: The Oklahoma Catholic Church will mark the first anniversary of the shrine opening in February. Over the years, thousands of pilgrims from around the globe are expected to visit the 2,000-seat shrine church and campus.

Josh Robinson, left, and Nathan Wong, organizers of the "Fill The Stadium" evangelism outreach effort, pose for a photo in April on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
Josh Robinson, left, and Nathan Wong, organizers of the "Fill The Stadium" evangelism outreach effort, pose for a photo in April on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

Effort to 'Fill the Stadium'

Two University of Oklahoma students led "Fill The Stadium," an evangelism effort and concert held in April on the University of Oklahoma's campus in Norman. Josh Robinson and Nathan Wong said they wanted to do something meaningful for their senior year at OU and the pair set about organizing the "FTS" outreach in the hopes that it would fill Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium with people hungry for a positive Christian message.

The event included worship leaders and contemporary Christian recording artists Kari Jobe and Chandler Moore, but the students said people really began clamoring for the free tickets for the outreach once R&B recording artist Chance The Rapper decided to perform during the event. Controversy arose because the faith effort was held at the same time as the final night of the annual Norman Music Festival. The evangelism effort did not completely fill the stadium with people but organizers said they were happy with the crowd that showed up to hear from the worship leaders and Nick Hall, an international evangelist and the founder of Pulse, a "next-generation focused" movement.

What's next: The Rev. Clarence Hill, a Norman pastor who supported the outreach, said Fill The Stadium organizers were not planning to repeat the event in 2024, but there are some conversations between faith and community leaders to hold more events focusing on unifying the Norman community.

Prayer in public schools

Debate over prayer in Oklahoma public schools grew intense in 2023, as state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters said he endorsed an advisory group's recommendations to promote Christianity and “Western heritage” in every classroom. A group called the Oklahoma Advisory Council on Founding Principles recommended that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, among other things.

Meanwhile, the Freedom From Religion Foundation called on Walters to resign in the wake of controversy surrounding prayers led over the intercom at an elementary school in Prague. Walters had criticized the organization for their objections to the school's prayers.

What's next: The furor over the prayer in public schools debate isn't going away anytime soon with Walters' determination to support such ideas. As for the Prague school, on Nov. 17, the Prague school district’s attorney issued a statement saying the district agreed that the posts and prayer were inappropriate for a public school district and that it would ensure neither occurs in the future.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: What does 2024 hold United Methodist Church, religious charter schools?