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Oklahoma: The Ten Commandments v. Satan

By now, everyone in Oklahoma is probably aware of the monument to satan that a New York based satanic group wants to have placed at our Capitol building. A drawing of the proposed monument is of a bearded, goat headed demon sitting on a throne adorned with a pentagram, with smiling children on either side. If you want to see a picture of it you can easily find it on the internet but I won’t have it on my blog. The statue is a response to the privately funded Ten Commandments monument that was placed on the north steps of the Oklahoma Capitol building in 2012. Before the concrete was even dry, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit to have the monument removed. The satanic temple says the Oklahoma Legislature’s decision to allow the Ten Commandments monument opened the door for any privately funded monument. Other requests to place monuments have come from a Hindu leader in Nevada […] → Keep reading

The Freest State – Being Number One Isn’t Good

The Oklahoma Watchdog has an article about a report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University which pegs Oklahoma as the fifth freest state in the nation. Oklahoma’s new Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon said, “I think it is exciting news. It’s an affirmation of the direction we’ve taken since Republicans gained control of the state House of Representatives in 2004. This is affirmation of the pro-growth and liberty policies that have been put in place since then.”

Shannon also said, “I am hopeful to get a whole wave of new good laws passed that will improve our ranking in an analysis like this. On the House side we’ve advanced all of our significant agenda items, and I think we’ll get most of all of those through with the help of the Senate. I am very optimistic.”

In the last twelve years Oklahoma has moved from the 31st freest to 5th freest. The scholars who compiled the report […] → Keep reading

Oklahoma and Sharia Law

Last week the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver began hearing arguments on the Oklahoma voter-approved law that prohibits state courts and judges from considering international law or Sharia law when deciding cases.

Voters overwhelmingly approved State Question 755 in November 2010 with 70 percent voting for passage.

The law states that “Oklahoma courts shall not look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures. Specifically, the courts shall not consider international law or Sharia Law. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to all cases before the respective courts including, but not limited to, cases of first impression.”

Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations, had filed the lawsuit challenging the constitutional amendment. Awad says in his lawsuit that the measure transforms Oklahoma’s constitution into a condemnation of Islam by singling it out.

Naturally, the American Civil Liberties Union is backing the lawsuit. Daniel Mach, the director of the ACLU’s […] → Keep reading