We're happy to report that Oklahoma is still a Top 10 State for theocratic morons.
Yesterday afternoon, Freedom Caucus lurches State Senator Shane Jett, State Representative Jim Olsen – two visionaries in the movement to preserve a teacher's right to spank special ed students – introduced a concurrent resolution that proclaims “Christ is King” and recognizes “the spiritual heritage of Oklahoma.”
Check out this madness:
Yep, that’s right.
The Oklahoma State Legislature wants to “affirm the freedom of its citizens to express their deeply held beliefs, including freedom of speech without fear of punishment or retribution, recognizing the importance of religious liberty as enshrined in both the United States Constitution and the Oklahoma Constitution.”
And they want to affirm these rights by – checks notes – proclaiming that one religious deity is king of our great state, and above all others.
To quote the old Esurance lady, I’m not sure that’s how religious liberty works:
Here’s the rest of the resolution:
Obviously, this attempt by dim-witted, proselytizing, theocratic blowhard lawmakers is a stupid and pointless idea.
First of all, it’s redundant.
I guess Jett and Olsen forgot that Brother Stitt already claimed Oklahoma for Jesus Christ a couple of years ago, so proclaiming him “king” doesn’t really do or accomplish anything new. If anything, it will likely make Jesus mad:
“Dad! They’re trying to give me Oklahoma again! Can we send another earthquake that way?”
Another reason why this resolution is a bad idea is that it blatantly violates the basic principles of a separation between church and state.
Sure, the resolution does throw in a token “this isn’t meant to establish a religion” line, but come on — when the state legislature officially proclaims “Christ is King,” the intentions aren’t subtle.
This is doubly so when they fail to pay homage to other religions, and issue resolutions saying “Allahu Akbar” for Muslims, “Buddha is the Enlightened One” for Buddhists, and “The Flying Spaghetti Monster is Al Dente” for Pastafarians.
Third, it’s a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money.
In a way, I guess we’d rather our lawmakers focus on issuing absurd resolutions designed to pander to religious fanatics (while simultaneously irritating rational, logical, free-thinking folks who don’t pretend to live by the teachings in ancient fairy tales and religious texts) than, say, actively making our state an even worse place to live and raise a family.
But if this resolution does receive a vote and passes, I bet it’ll trigger another costly lawsuit the state will have to defend in court.
But hey, what do I know?
I’m just a normal guy who writes for a living — not an authoritarian, hypocritical weirdo who has been groomed since childhood by Christian fundamentalists and right-wing lunatics hellbent on imposing their religion on the rest of the world.
Here's what a guy who's much better looking than me thinks about it:
We’ll continue to follow this resolution and provide updates as they arise.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
