Letter to the Editor

OPINION
Billing God
Staff Reports
339 words
19 March 2008
Tulsa World
FINAL HOME
A12

Five bills before the state Legislature should be defeated. They are Sally Kern's HB 2200 and HB 2211 (religious viewpoints), Kern's HB 2440 (religious activities), Todd Thomsen'sHB 3375 (textbook changes) and Paul Wesselhoft's HB 2600 (higher education sunshine).

These bills constitute an unwarranted, ill-advised intrusion of government into religion and vice versa. Federal and state constitutions already permit and protect free speech. There is no need to introduce discussion of religion into public education.

That violates the Bill of Rights' provision that there be no law establishing religion. The Founding Fathers perceived that course would lead to one religion and chose to keep government out of the operation, leaving everyone free to choose.

That there are from 50,000 to 100,000 different churches in the U.S. today attests to the success of this policy of allowing free choice and keeping government and religion separate.

Using taxpayer funds to foster religious papers, assignments, speeches, is similarly using everyone's resources for purposes that are the province of the individual church and family. The one- size-fits-all public school curriculum every pupil should be taught in order to become a citizen functioning to the benefit of society should focus on the information every citizen needs to partici pate in a democratic society, not that which tends to divide us into thousands of differences.

Neither religion nor government should have any business with the other if democracy is to result.

R.L. Hooper, Fort Gibson