SOURCE: The Wall of Separation
February 23rd, 2011
By Rob Boston.
Oklahoma is one of the most religiously conservative states in the country. Fundamentalists have a strong political presence there, and “culture war” battles are common. This is the state, you’ll recall, that recently tried to ban Sharia law – even though no Muslims are attempting to impose it there.
It’s always a pleasant surprise, then, when Oklahoma legislators resist Religious Right pressure and do the right thing. And yesterday they did.
The Education Committee of the state House of Representatives voted 9-7 against a bill that would have opened the door to “intelligent design” and other creationist concepts in school science classes.
The measure, H.B. 1551, was sponsored by Sally Kern, the infamous state representative known for her gay bashing and insistence that the United States was founded to be a “Christian nation.” (Naturally, Kern – a Republican from Oklahoma City – is a hero to the Religious Right.)
LINK:
http://blog.au.org/2011/02/23/kern-spurned-oklahoma-legislator’s-backdoor-creationism-bill-bounced/
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"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it would read ‘A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;’ the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."(Thomas Jefferson in his Autobiography, 1821; from Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 40.)