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oraxx's avatar

The people who would break down the barriers between church and state make a point of ignoring the fact the U.S. Constitution does not give religion any role to play in governance, and specifically bans religious tests for holding public office. David Barton may as well be calling himself an astronaut rather than a historian. The religious right never stops trying to shoehorn their mythology into places it was never intended to fit in the first place. I can't imagine why any young person would want to remain in Oklahoma. My grand daughter and her now husband graduated from OU, they loved the university, but could not get out of that state fast enough once they were done with college.

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Joe King's avatar

𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 “𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔” 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 “𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒 ‘𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝐺𝑜𝑑.’”

So, would a first grader be marked as wrong for accurately stating that the original purpose of the pledge was to sell flags to schools to mark the 400th anniverary of Columbus' first voyage? And that the meaning was the promotion of racism and xenophobia? And that the significance of the phrase "under God" was to promote McCarthyism? Would a teacher be fired for teaching that accurate history? It's Oklahoma. Walters would want to do the firing himself.

Skipping to Hig School:

𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑦 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎'𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠.

How was the Constitution influenced by religion? The framers decided religion should have no part. Morality? The basic societal norms of the day, with provisions to change the Constitution as societal norms changed. The Bible? Although some of them cited the Bible as a guide, many did not, and the Constitution reflects that. If the kid uses these (factually correct) answers, they would likely not be allowed to graduate.

These are just a few of the examples why Rev Dr Mitchell's statement, (𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦𝑡𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑂𝑘𝑙𝑎ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑎.) is accurate. Hopefully, the judges will see this, and rule appropriately. But it is Oklahoma.

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