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Oklahoma AG sues to stop publicly funded religious school: 'Waste of our tax dollars' (www.rawstory.com)

submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond — a Republican — is bucking his own party in a new lawsuit aimed at preventing what would be the first publicly funded religious school in America from opening.

On Friday, Drummond filed the suit in Oklahoma Supreme Court, challenging the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board's 3-2 decision in June to grant a contract to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School. According to PBS, Drummond warned that the establishment of St. Isidore, which is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, would lead to the floodgates opening for religious groups of all stripes to make bids for public funding for schools of their own.

"Make no mistake, if the Catholic Church were permitted to have a public virtual charter school, a reckoning will follow in which this state will be faced with the unprecedented quandary of processing requests to directly fund all petitioning sectarian groups," the lawsuit read.

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[-] fiat_lux@kbin.social 63 points 1 year ago

Lol, he didn't just imply it, he outright went there in a press conference:

"Today, Oklahomans are being compelled to fund Catholicism. Because of the legal precedent created by the Board’s actions, tomorrow we may be forced to fund radical Muslim teachings like Sharia law. In fact, Governor Stitt has already indicated that he would welcome a Muslim charter school funded by our tax dollars. That is a gross violation of our religious liberty. As the defender of Oklahoma’s religious freedoms, I am prepared to litigate this issue to the United States Supreme Court if that’s what is required to protect our Constitutional rights.” - Press release

The broken analog clock is still right twice a day?

[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

While he could have said it differently and with a lot more cultural sensitivity, he's correct.

If you allow religion in our schools, you are opening up Pandora box. Flying spaghetti monster deserves a space too.

[-] fiat_lux@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

For sure. It just amuses me that someone can find the shittiest possible ways to argue for the right outcome, and that the media can just overlook the shitty parts because they (rightly) agree with that outcome.

I think it's also worth noting the phrasing is very deliberate - he reportedly has political aspirations and existing beef with the Senator, so he's appealing to his potential base too. He mentions Sharia later at least once more and makes sure to let people know he thinks kids should be reading Bibles with their family. It's all filthy and deliberate politics, and it's clearly the right thing to do, bizarrely twisted into... this.

[-] Adalast@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

... that the media can just overlook the shitty parts because they (rightly) agree with that outcome.

This is the definition of "the ends justify the means."

[-] fiat_lux@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, there's a lot of Macchievalianism in politics. It's not my favourite thing that humans do.

[-] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 year ago

As the defender of religious freedoms... [we are ok with catholicism but not islam]

This is beyond parody.

[-] shottymcb@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

They're not ok with Catholics either.

[-] TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com 2 points 1 year ago

Sometimes they can slightly tolerate Catholics, but just barely. The same can't be said of any non-Christian religion.

[-] player2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago

Or more likely, a satanic temple school 👹

[-] rifugee@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Me thinks someone is preparing to run for governor.

[-] ZzyzxRoad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

How tf is a muslim school a blatant violation of christian religious freedom? It's a violation of their ability to be bigots

[-] tvarog_smetana@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

To be fair, that's the argument that's most likely to resonate with a lot of Oklahoma voters

[-] VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, but to be even more fair, it being effective doesn't excuse appeals to bigotry.

this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023

853 points (99.2% liked)

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