An Oklahoma couple who worship a devil from an ancient, non-Christian religion filed a lawsuit in August against their children’s public school district, alleging that multiple district employees have harassed their family because of their “alternative non-Christian-based religion.”
In their filing to the Oklahoma County District Court, Adam and Kelsey Daniels are seeking $300,000 in damages. Among other things, they assert that some Putnam City School District employees reported their parenting to the Department of Human Services due to the couple’s religious beliefs. The suit also alleges that district employees treated their three children poorly.
“The District has taken an adversarial stance toward the Parents of these children based largely on the fact that the Parents practice an alternative religion which is a violation of the Civil Rights of the Plaintiffs,” the complaint reads.
The couple belongs to a faith called Anramainyu, which they say has roots in ancient Persia. Adam Daniels said the religion focuses on an angel of darkness that is not the same as the Satan found in the Bible.
Daniels said school district employees lodged “falsified allegations” against him and that as a result, state officials have visited the family about 40 times over several years. He also asserts that a school nurse strip-searched the couple’s autistic, mute and epileptic child to check for signs of abuse, an action the couple believes had to do with false assumptions of how they were raising their children.
“The point of the lawsuit is to make them stop using DHS as a weapon to bludgeon us with because they don’t believe in how we practice our faith,” Daniels told The Oklahoman.
The school district declined to comment on the case.
