Both Attorney General Scott Pruitt and the Rev. Dan Fisher mentioned their First Amendment right of free speech. They must have skipped over the first part of the sentence: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” This is not an ambiguous statement. They are, of course, free to practice how they wish, but do not legislate those practices upon the rest of the citizens.
It is exactly the types of societies that base their laws on religion that Rep. Sally Kern is so afraid of in her defense of State Question 755, also known as the anti-Shariah bill.
If we should not consider one set of laws inspired by a man in a tribal Middle Eastern society about 1,400 years ago (Shariah), let’s not base our laws on the teachings of another man living in a tribal Middle Eastern society about 2,000 years ago. Let’s base our laws on what works and from good ideas, regardless of where they come from (instead of because of where they come from).
The Reclaiming America for Christ meeting only serves to inspire fear in both the attendees and in those they intentionally exclude. I hope one day we can move past this type of exclusionary religion and politicking, but until then, I will both laugh and cry when I read about these events in our fine state of Oklahoma.
—Trevor Bruner
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
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