The Frontier Watchdogs

Never miss an investigation that changes Oklahoma.

Independent investigative journalism delivered free to your inbox.

Email address

Always free. Never a paywall.

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Republican candidate for state superintendent James Taylor wrote in his self-published book that men should have authority over women and that the Bible belongs in public schools.

God never intended women to be without “a male supervisor that is directly God or God’s vice president, man,” Taylor wrote in It’s Biblical, Not Political! How to Line Candidates Up Biblically. 

“She must be under some male pattern authority in order for her to achieve all of God’s purposes for her life,” Taylor wrote. “When you have dominion, you have to have hierarchy.”

The book’s cover art shows the American flag, a Bible and rifle ammunition. Taylor originally released the book in 2015 through the now-defunct Oklahoma vanity publisher Tate Publishing & Enterprise. The book was rereleased earlier this year through Crown Latitude, another self-publishing house.  

Taylor gives advice in the book for how Christians should choose which political candidates to support. He wrote that America was founded as a Christian nation and described the removal of school-sponsored prayer and Bible reading from public schools as part of the nation’s moral decline. He also wrote that the government should not be responsible for raising children. 

Taylor held up a copy of the book during a debate in June hosted by NonDoc and Griffin Media, and said he brings it with him wherever he goes. 

“I recommend this book for anybody who is going to be looking to vote for candidates because it asks questions of candidates,” Taylor said. 

The Taylor campaign did not respond to The Frontier’s requests for comment for this story.

Taylor, a longtime pastor who now teaches U.S. history and government at Little Axe High School, faces Robert Franklin in the Aug. 25 Republican runoff for Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction. The winner will compete against Democrat Jennettie Marshall in November and could take control of an agency that oversees the education of more than 600,000Oklahoma public school students.

An independent poll of 600 Republican primary voters released Aug. 13 by Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates found that the GOP runoff race for state superintendent is close, with many voters still unsure. Franklin polled at 27% and Taylor at 26%, with 47% of likely voters undecided. Taylor led Franklin by eight percentage points among voters who described themselves as “very conservative,” while Franklin held a 43%-to-24% advantage among moderate Republicans. 

Taylor’s campaign website describes him as offering “faith, family, and leadership for Oklahoma schools.”

But Taylor’s book goes considerably further in explaining what he believes the relationship between faith, education and government should be.

Christianity and public schools

Taylor begins the book with a description of an America he believes has been in moral decline since the 1960s.

“In the 50s, things were different,” he wrote.

Among the differences Taylor listed: “Homosexuals were still in the closet,” alcoholism “was considered a sin, not a disease,” abortionists were “considered the scum of the earth ”welfare” was considered a disgrace” and public-school students prayed, read the Bible and were taught creation as an alternative to evolution.

“We’ve come a long way, baby,” Taylor wrote. “Yes, we have, and it has been all in the wrong direction.”

Taylor linked those changes to the removal of God from public life, writing that today’s schools are “filled with drugs, rebellion and violence.” In the book, he recounts the use of the Bible in early American education and argues Christianity once provided the moral foundation of American classrooms.

“Isn’t it interesting that at one time in American history, it was not possible to separate Christianity from the classroom, yet today, every effort is made to make sure Christianity stays out of the classroom,” Taylor wrote.

He was particularly critical of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions restricting government-sponsored religious exercises in public schools. Taylor blamed the removal of the Ten Commandments from public-school classrooms in part for subsequent social problems.

“The court ruled it was unconstitutional for students to read, Don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t lie, honor your parents, etc.,” he wrote. “No wonder we have so many problems with drive-by shootings, thievery, promiscuity, people not telling the truth, and kids being disrespectful to their parents and those in authority.”

Taylor said earlier this year that he supported former State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ attempt to increase references to the Bible and Christianity in Oklahoma’s social studies standards, though Taylor criticized Walters’ methods.

“I appreciate what Ryan Walters was attempting to do,” Taylor told Oklahoma Voice. “I really do, and (it) had nothing to do with me being a pastor. It has to do with history.”

Taylor told the outlet he would do “everything I can” to restore social studies standards explaining the Bible’s influence on America’s founding.

Taylor also argued that public schools discriminate against Christianity while giving preferential treatment to other religions.

“Efforts are made in schools to have teaching on Islam,” Taylor wrote. “The students are encouraged to wear Muslim clothing and to write a prayer to Allah under the guise of teaching religious tolerance. Yet the same school will not allow a Christmas tree or Nativity scene in that same classroom.”

Taylor followed the passage with a quotation from the Gospel of John in which Jesus says no one comes to God except through him.

“No one means no one,” Taylor wrote.

Voting as a religious obligation

Taylor argued Christians share responsibility for what the politicians they support do in office.

“If I voted for a candidate that believed in the murder of babies in the womb, does God look the other way and say, Well, that’s politics and doesn’t have anything to do with me?” Taylor wrote. “That is not the God of the Bible.”

Many Christians don’t recognize that God has spoken about “marriage, global warming, family issues, the unborn, immigration and so many other issues,” Taylor wrote, and therefore “don’t see a connection to how they vote and what God will hold them accountable to when they stand before Him.”

“I assure you,” Taylor wrote, “God is paying attention to what we support.”

Taylor applies that mindset directly to education.

“The church is not supposed to raise your child. The school is not supposed to raise your child. The government is not supposed to raise your child,” Taylor wrote. “You are supposed to raise your child because it is your child, and it is your job.”

He then proposes a question Christians should ask political candidates:

“Does the educational philosophy of the candidate empower the parents or the government teachers’ unions to raise your children?”

Taylor wrote that parents should have a choice over where their children are educated and warned that candidates who believe government is responsible for raising children will produce “less freedom for parents and further government intrusion.”

Abortion, homosexuality and politics

Taylor’s book also provides standards for evaluating candidates on issues outside the day-to-day duties of a state superintendent.

“Abortion is murder, the illegitimate taking of a life,” he wrote.

Taylor described the abortion rate among Black women in New York City as “genocide” and attacked Democrats for supporting abortion rights.

“They are standing on the bodies of dead babies,” Taylor wrote. “They are standing on severed heads and limbs and think that it is okay, in the name of political expediency, so they can get votes.”

Taylor also argues government has no authority to redefine marriage because marriage was established by God, and calls homosexuality part of the consequences of a society rejecting God.

“God has defined marriage as between one man and one woman,” Taylor wrote. “If a man and a man or a woman and a woman desires to be together, that is not marriage.”

The superintendent leads the Oklahoma State Department of Education, chairs the State Board of Education and has a statewide platform to influence debates over curriculum, academic standards, parental rights and the place of religion in public schools.

And those are subjects Taylor addresses repeatedly in his book.

In one passage, Taylor criticizes the Supreme Court for decisions restricting government-sponsored religious activity in schools and other public settings.

“As a believer in the saving grace of Jesus Christ,” Taylor wrote, “it is obvious that our Supreme Court is actually fighting against God.”

“I read the back of the book,” he continued, “and we win, and the United States Supreme Court will lose.”