Well, well, well. Oklahoma State (Schools) Superintendent Ryan Walters is a grown man. He’ll be 40 years old on his next birthday. (I looked it up.) How is it that he has not yet learned that, before you make a decision, you should — I don’t know — check things out? Because it is obvious that Walters doesn’t know anything about what he’s talking about.
Walters, in his infinite stupidity, is demanding that Oklahoma teachers incorporate these bits of religious indoctrination into their lessons:
- “the significance of the phrase ‘under God’” in the Pledge of Allegiance;
- “describe how the Constitution of the United States was influenced by religion, morality, and the Bible as a frequently cited authority by America’s founders,” and
- explain “the importance of religion to the American people.”
Per Walters’ smarmy press release, “The standards focus on the full and true context of our nation’s founding and teach American history accurately and in full context: the good, the bad, and sometimes, the ugly.”
Be careful what you ask for. This is about to get ugly. At least Walters would think so.
(1) The Pledge of Allegiance had a lot to do with religion! Well, actually the separation of Church and State. The author, Francis Bellamy, a Socialist Baptist minister, believed — as did the Founding Fathers (more on that later) — in the absolute separation of Church and State, so there originally wasn’t an “Under God” in the Pledge when introduced in 1888. Bellamy also didn’t envision the Pledge as a strictly American pledge; he felt it would work for citizens of any country, so “I pledge allegiance to my flag” wasn’t changed to “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America” until 1923. “Under God” was not added until the 1950s by an America so scared of the Russians that it wanted to differentiate themselves from the Red Menace.
For extra credit, you could show how schoolchildren used to pledge the flag in what was called the Bellamy Salute until the late 1930s. Here’s one photo. Can’t imagine why they changed to the hand over the heart.
(2) The Founders were definitely influenced by religion, particular the terror of religious wars, as they had experienced in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Unlike today’s elected leaders, they read and knew things. They knew how devastating the Tudor Conquest of Ireland (1529–1603), Wyatt’s Rebellion (1554), the Nine Years’ War (1593–1603), English Civil War (1642–51), the so-called Bishops’ Wars (1639–40), and the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1653) had been for Great Britain. That doesn’t even count the upheaval caused by dozens upon dozens of other religious wars across the rest of Europe throughout the 17th century.
The Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that the United States would never, ever, ever face pointless wars over religion. That was the point of the First Amendment’s firm wall separating Church and State. And, when that wall has been broached, violence has erupted, as in the Bible Riots and anti-immigrant riots. (Louisville had its own Bible war, called “Bloody Monday,” on Aug. 6, 1855.)
(3) Walters wants children to know how important religion is to the American people. Good to know! It turns out that, for nearly 70% of Americans, the answer to the question “how important is religion in your life?” is “not very.” Twenty-one percent of Americans say they attend church weekly; another 9% say they attend nearly every week. Fifty-six percent reveal that they attend seldom or not at all. (The 25% who say they seldom attend are likely grown children visiting Mom and Dad for Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter.) For millennials, 40% claim to have no religion at all, the so-called “nones” reported in surveys. So, if anything, despite the best efforts of Christian Nationalists like Walters, fewer and fewer Americans want what Walters is selling.
Oklahoma schools rank 49th. But I have faith that Walters can push them to the very bottom. The sad thing is that more people would become Christians if Christian leaders practiced more of the teachings of Jesus and fewer of the propaganda techniques of expert Heinrich Himmler.
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