Religion and Politics

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange’s decision Monday to issue a preliminary injunction against a state constitutional amendment that prohibits courts from considering Islamic-related law should be lauded here by anyone concerned with protecting individual rights.

On Nov. 2, more than 70 percent of Oklahoma voters approved State Question 755, a constitutional amendment that bars courts from using Sharia law, which is based on the Koran, to rule on cases. There are no known cases here in Oklahoma of courts using Sharia law, and courts are already duty-bound to use federal and state law. The amendment is superfluous and demeaning.

After the election, Muneer Awad, a Muslim who is director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, filed suit in federal court against the amendment, arguing his rights had been violated because his religion has been singled out and essentially condemned. Miles-LaGrange, pictured right, then issued a temporary restraining order barring the Oklahoma State Election Board from certifying the results of SQ 755. In her ruling, which is an injunction that can be appealed, the judge agreed with Awad’s argument.

She wrote:

. . . the Court finds that [Awad's] alleged condemnation injury is sufficiently
concrete, particularized and imminent. [Awad] has sufficiently set forth a personal stake in this action by alleging that he lives in Oklahoma, is a Muslim, that the amendment conveys an official government message of disapproval and hostility toward his religious beliefs, that sends a clear message he is an outsider, not a full member of the political community, thereby chilling his access to the government and forcing him to curtail his political and religious activities. Further, the Court finds the consequences – the condemnation – that [Awad] believes will result from the amendment are objectively justified.

Essentially, basic religious discrimination perpetuated by the government, even when sanctioned by a voter majority, is a violation of the Bill of Rights, which Miles-LaGrange cited in her ruling. She began her ruling with language from the U.S. Supreme Court that argued:

The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

The Sharia law controversy has drawn major national media attention, which, at the risk of understatement, has not been flattering to the state. The New York Times, for example, published an editorial Sunday that argued Oklahoma voters had been duped by fear mongers. Here’s the last paragraph of the editorial:

The voters of Oklahoma were badly misled by demagogues into passing a profoundly un-American measure. Now it is up to the federal courts to prevent the hatred from spreading further.

Former state Rep. Rex Duncan (R-Sand Springs), who authored the “Save Our State Amendment,” has argued the amendment is needed here even if there are no current problems, but the Sharia law ban is simply the latest GOP cultural wedge issue used to create fear and drive voters to the poll.

The Oklahoma State Election Board can appeal the Miles-LaGrange ruling, and it will be interesting to see how far the state will go to support a law that’s so obviously discriminatory. Undoubtedly, those who pushed for the amendment will argue this is a case of judicial activism, but it really isn’t. No state should be allowed to legally sanction religious discrimination. The corporate media here should get behind Miles-LaGrange’s ruling and help cleanup the state’s image on this issue.

So it goes in Oklahoma these days . . .

Can Oklahoma’s anti-gay rights legislators get more petty and mean?

The Rev. Scott Jones, a gay pastor at Oklahoma City’s Cathedral of Hope, gave the opening prayer Wednesday in the House chamber. It was general prayer that spoke of a “Creator” and “Redeemer,” who fills “us with your Holy Spirit. “ There was not a controversial word in it.

(You can read the prayer here.)

But when it came time to make the prayer part of the House journal, a routine procedure, state Rep. John Wright, a Broken Arrow Republican, objected, and it was put to a vote. Showing what can obviously be described as mean-natured pettiness, 20 legislators, including notorious gay-basher state Rep. Sally Kern, an Oklahoma City Republican, voted against making the prayer a part of the official record. Overall, the vote was 64-20 to make the prayer a part of the journal, but the anti-gay message had been sent.

Before giving his prayer, Jones mentioned "my loving partner and fiance, Michael.” Jones’ church has “a ministry primarily to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people,” according to its Web site. Jones’ pre-prayer remarks are not a part of the official record, according to a news report.

Two days after giving the prayer, Jones and supporters held a press conference in which the legislators who voted against including the prayer in the record were asked to apologize.

Meanwhile, The Oklahoman actually covered the controversy as a news story and the blogosphere was filled with posts about the issue. As usual, Oklahoma’s image took another hit from radical politicos in this state. What else is new?

With the economy tanking here, the state legislature really can’t afford to paint the state as a backwards place of intolerance. This has an economic impact. How many groups do the right-wingers and hatemongers want to exclude from the state? Who’s next?

Campus Gun Bill Shot Down

It’s good news that a bill allowing guns on the state’s college campuses has been voted down by a Senate subcommittee, but the issue could still come up this legislative session.

State Sen. Randy Bass, a Lawton Democrat, proposed a measure that would allow law enforcement officials to carry concealed weapons on campuses, and it was unanimously defeated by the subcommittee. The action should make the issue dead for the next two years, according to legislative rules.

But state Rep. Jason Murphey, a Guthrie Republican, has another bill pending in the House, which could put even more guns on campuses.

As I wrote earlier, “Under proposed HB 1083, anyone who holds a concealed handgun permit and completes certification training given by the Council on Law Enforcement and Training (CLEET) would be allowed to carry concealed weapons at public colleges. The new bill appears to exempt faculty from the CLEET training requirement.”

What will happened to Murphey’s bill is anyone’s guess right now, but rest assured the legislator will continue try to get some sort of “Carry on Campus” measure passed this legislative session.

Will the Senate’s action make Murphey’s efforts futile? Does it mean the Senate will not approve any Murphey measure that conflicts with the bill that was defeated by the subcommittee? Let’s hope so.

These “Carry on Campus” measures, proposed across the country and supported by the National Rifle Association, simply create more potential for violence at universities and colleges. Gun advocate extremists are using the recent shooting tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois to push their agenda. Last year, virtually all of the state’s higher education officials opposed a similar measure and in all likelihood they still do.

The Oklahoma Rifle Association gave Murphey its 2008 Legislator of The Year award.

The Ten Commandments

The Oklahoma House General Government Committee has approved a plan by state Rep. Mike Ritze, A Broken Arrow Republican to put a Ten Commandments display at the State Capitol.

The full House will now vote on the measure. Ritze, an ordained Southern Baptist deacon, said his family would pay for the monument, which would be modeled after a Texas Ten Commandments monument.

According to a news report, Ritze said, “The Ten Commandments laid the foundation for modern law and their importance in the development of our legal system should be recognized."

That statement is simply is not true, according to legal experts.

According to The Legal Satyricon:

Lets go to the dishonesty first. Anyone who claims that the Ten Commandments are “where the state gets its laws” either hasn’t read the Ten Commandments or is lying. The commandments that prohibit murder, theft, and perjury may have parallels in American law, but three out of ten doesn’t get you there. Here is a good post debunking the myth that the Ten Commandments have anything at all to do with our laws.

The monument is a bad idea that only creates unnecessary religious conflict. Let’s hope legal groups and excluded religions step forward and challenge this obvious religious intrusion in government.

Now that John McCain has repudiated the Rev. John Hagee and Barack Obama has repudiated the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, maybe we can repudiate all the country’s leading religious freaks and irrationality in general.

McCain, the Republican presumptive presidential nominee, distanced himself from the bombastic Hagee this week after it surfaced the good Reverend said God actually planned the Holocaust. Hagee had earlier publicly endorsed McCain, and the Arizona Senator had already told reporters he disagreed with Hagee’s inflammatory remarks about Catholicism and God’s obvious “Katrina” wrath on New Orleans

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Obama recently had to distance himself from his Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has some particular ideas about the government inflicting AIDS on African Americans.

McCain has tried to nuance his repudiation, arguing Hagee is not his pastor, after all. Republicans can spin that argument to death; it simply won't fly if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee for president.

Given the specifics, it is all a meaningless muddle, a diversion from real issues. But there is a much larger issue here. The truth of the matter is this country has an extremely serious religion problem.

As religious influence has grown in the political process in recent years, the ability of the American government to tackle the country’s serious problems has diminished. Religious thinking, simply put, can lead to irrational thinking because faith itself is based on irrationality.

Consequently, the country’s attention in recent years has been focused on non-essential wedge issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, supposed religious issues, as our country’s infrastructure and quality of life deteriorated. We are giving up our dreams and our children’s futures so the religious freaks can fuel their apocalyptic fantasies.

Meanwhile, an incredulous world waits, ready to pounce. The number one security issue in this country right now is the irrationality embraced by so many of our leaders.

Sure, there are plenty of rational, intelligent people willing to run for office on rational issues, such as restoring the infrastructure, solving the health care crisis, ending the long, gruesome military occupation and doing something significant about rising energy costs. I would even include a few Republicans in this group.

But how can they run on rationality when religious extremism tells us logic and science are dispensable, that fighting gay marriage is more important than, say, providing adequate health care for children?

McCain, in particular, has to kowtow to the religious-right in this country. Without the votes of the irrationals, he does not stand a chance. Consequently, he and other Republicans must take irrational positions to win votes. Meanwhile, religious extremism has influenced Democratic politicians as well, producing a similar, albeit diminished, effect. As the bizarre drama unfolds in the United States, the corporate media gives religious lunatics more and more space and credibility.

What if the country had a president and other elected officials who could actually focus on the country’s pressing problems without interference from religious ideologues?

Until that happens, this country’s fortunes will continue to sink.