To Comfort The Afflicted
And Afflict The Comfortable

To Comfort The Afflicted And Afflict The Comfortable

Friday, March 29, 2024

Observercast

Holy Is As Holy Does

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BY SHARON MARTIN

Sharon MartinOur governor denied more than 100,000 poor Oklahomans access to preventive healthcare just to make a political point. She refused to meet the president of the United States when he visited Oklahoma … to make a point. Now, she’s putting a nativity on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion.

We’re not fooled one bit by your political showmanship, Gov. Fallin. Holy is as holy does.

I have no problem at all with nativities. I welcome the menorah. I’m OK, too, with a giant head wearing a spaghetti strainer. Our Constitution guarantees the free expression of one’s religion so long as it does no harm.

But I have a real problem when any of these things are erected on state property, and I consider dangerous a group that seeks to provoke by placing a nativity on every state Capitol lawn.

Kathie Jackson, Nativity Committee of Tulsa, says she is just practicing freedom of speech. No. Saying “Merry Christmas” to all you meet is freedom of speech. Forcing the display of one’s private belief on property owned by all the citizens of the state is a form of bullying.

Mary Fallin is an accomplice to the crime.

If you study history, you know that many of the rebels who are responsible for the creation of the United States of America were adamant that people of all faiths, or of no faith at all, be welcome here.

Benjamin Franklin wanted a representative of every religion in Philadelphia – including both Jews and Muslims – to be part of his funeral procession. Thomas Jefferson considered the “wall of separation between Church & State” to be one of his signature achievements.

The idea that Christians are better off if Christianity becomes the state religion is as false as Gov. Fallin’s piety. Christians will lose as much as anyone else if the government gets to decide what one is to believe and how one is to worship.

As for the governor’s piety, an annual food drive won’t make up for all the harm her policies inflict on the most vulnerable in this state.

Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer

1 COMMENT

Arnold Hamilton
Arnold Hamilton
Arnold Hamilton became editor of The Observer in September 2006. Previously, he served nearly two decades as the Dallas Morning News’ Oklahoma Bureau chief. He also covered government and politics for the San Jose Mercury News, the Dallas Times Herald, the Tulsa Tribune and the Oklahoma Journal.
Mark Krawczyk
Mark Krawczyk
March 9, 2023
Exceptional reporting about goings on in my home state as well as informative opinion pieces that makes people think about issues of the day...........get a SUBSCRIPTION FOLKS!!!!!!!
Brette Pruitt
Brette Pruitt
September 5, 2022
The Observer carries on the "give 'em hell" tradition of its founder, the late Frosty Troy. I read it from cover to cover. A progressive wouldn't be able to live in a red state without it.