{"id":4009,"date":"2016-10-26T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T17:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/?p=4009"},"modified":"2016-10-26T09:54:17","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T14:54:17","slug":"oklahomans-vote-no-sq790","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/2016\/10\/26\/oklahomans-vote-no-sq790\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahomans \u2014 Vote NO on SQ790"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With just under two weeks to go until election day, I would like to make a final plea on behalf of constitutional conservatism in the Bible Belt.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.ok.gov\/documents\/questions\/790.pdf\">State Question 790<\/a> would tear down our state constitutional wall of separation between church and state, which has been in place ever since our founding in 1907. Passage of this bill would have at least three distinctly negative effects on the citizens of Oklahoma. SQ790 will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Corrupt the churches<\/strong> \u2014 SQ790 would open up churches, temples, and mosques to sectarian conflict as various denominations and faiths engage in lobbying for their own slice of the public treasury. No one can honestly believe that the pursuit of piety will be enhanced by the process of politicking.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Undermine the state<\/strong> \u2014 SQ790 would allow legislators to funnel public monies to politically favored faith schools at the expense of both public schools and religious minorities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Invite endless litigation<\/strong> \u2014 SQ790 would remove the venerable safeguards built into our state constitution against intermixing of faith and government. This would encourage our state legislators to experiment even further with pushing the boundaries of federal First Amendment prohibitions on church\/state entanglement, for example, by making the monumental mistake of once again displaying the Ten Commandments at the State Capitol. As Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Steven W. Taylor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oscn.net\/applications\/oscn\/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=476438#writing-4\">has written<\/a> on this matter, in the case of <em>Prescott v. Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission<\/em>, \u201cUnder a proper federal analysis, this monument would likely be held unconstitutional under the First Amendment.\u201d<!-- \/react-text --><br \/>\n<!-- react-text: 1549 --><!-- \/react-text --><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are just the most obvious and probable negative effects of removing existing constitutional safeguards. Other potential problems abound; you may read about these issues further below:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Protect Religious Freedom in Oklahoma: Vote No on SQ 790 &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Y0vQRwKNb3\">https:\/\/t.co\/Y0vQRwKNb3<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/shQvj5Ehs7\">pic.twitter.com\/shQvj5Ehs7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Americans United (@americansunited) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/americansunited\/status\/790951090049146884?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 25, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>An editorial from my old friend and former <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddirtreport.com\/red-dirt-politics\/american-atheists-sue-state-capitol-preservation-commission-over-placement-10\">Ten Commandments plaintiff<\/a>, Aimee Breeze.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">GPS\u2019 Guide to the 2016 Oklahoma Election | Caleb Lack <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AQccMsFLmW\">https:\/\/t.co\/AQccMsFLmW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Skeptic Ink (@SkepticInk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkepticInk\/status\/789279839534678016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 21, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A comprehensive guide to <em>all<\/em> the Oklahoma State Questions from my Skeptic Ink colleague, Dr. Caleb Lack.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Editorial endorsement: Voters should reject State Question 790 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7LE3o4i4v6\">https:\/\/t.co\/7LE3o4i4v6<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SQ790?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SQ790<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/OKelections?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#OKelections<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RFQRDgL2Ie\">pic.twitter.com\/RFQRDgL2Ie<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tulsa World Opinion (@TWOpinion) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TWOpinion\/status\/785569551115251712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 10, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Editorial from the staff of the <i>Tulsa World<\/i>. Money quote: &#8220;SQ 790 is an unholy solution to an earthly problem.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SQ790?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SQ790<\/a> could mean a Ten Commandments monument returns to the state capitol. But does it open Okla. to more lawsuits? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/F0nHo93j1y\">https:\/\/t.co\/F0nHo93j1y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; KOSU (@KOSURadio) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KOSURadio\/status\/790626146698207232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 24, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In which the ACLU essentially promises to file a federal lawsuit against the Ten Commandments monument, should it ever be returned to the Capitol.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">KTOK&#39;s Gwin Faulconer-Lippert had AUOKC&#39;s Dwight Welch and Brenda Weber on her show this Sunday talk about SQ&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PDR90TPdoH\">https:\/\/t.co\/PDR90TPdoH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; OK Church\/State (@OKSeparation) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OKSeparation\/status\/790968023482073088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 25, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>For the audiophiles out there, you can listen to grassroots activists from Americans United for Separation of Church and State discussing SQ790 on local news radio.<\/p>\n<p>If I missed any good sources about SQ790, please leave a link below!<\/p>\n<p>Your thoughts?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With just under two weeks to go until election day, I would like to make a final plea on behalf&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":4010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","category-politics","category-movement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4011,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions\/4011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}