The requirement forces Oklahoma teachers to "reference" the role of the Ten Commandments in America's founding, so as a historian & teacher, let me offer this suggestion:
"Although some idiots today insist that the Founding Fathers were inspired by the Ten Commandments, they absolutely were not."
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters issued this memo today requiring teachers in all schools to keep a Bible in their classroom and teach from it as a historical document. (Via KOCO 5 News)
Oh and the "historical context of our country" is that the Founding Fathers knew from hard personal experience that the mixing of religion and government had caused centuries of war and chaos across Europe, so when they set up a new country here THEY VERY EXPLICITLY DID NOT DO THAT.
That was kind of the exact reason the pilgrims came here. As a person who was super-religious for half her life, I'm always amazed at how many self-proclaimed Christians either don't know this, forget it, or can't see w/5 seconds of reflection why mixing religion & govt is terrible for religion.
The one I’ve always wondered is why they’re cool with letting judges decide who is and isn’t a real Christian, by adjudging whether their beliefs are “sincerely held”.
