Ryan Walters wants more money from Oklahoma taxpayers. Specifically, he wants a few million dollars to continue his program of forcing the Bible into Oklahoma classrooms-- another three million to match the three million he got last fall.
His discussion with lawmakers in the state illuminate some of the thinking here.
Rep. Jacob Rosencrans, a Democrat who was formerly a history teacher, asked why the taxpayers should foot the bill for a document readily available for free in digital form.
Responded Walters, "When you're talking about the foundational texts of American history, and frankly Western civilization, they should be physically present in the classroom.” It's not clear what special properties the physical form has, other than Walters wanting students to see that Bible every day.
Also-- since when is the Bible a foundational text of Western Civilization? You know--the "civilization" that has its roots in ancient Greek and Roman civilization, civilizations that were both before the lifetime of Jesus and also not particularly interested in what the Jewish people had to say. Nor does he seem particularly interested in looking at other roots of the US, like the influence of the Iriquois Confederacy and other native American groups on the formation of the US Constitution.
Rep, Cynthia Roe, a Republican who is a business owner and nurse, asked Walters if this might be opening "the door for the Quran, opening the door for Wicca, atheists, other religions outside of Christianity."
Walters explains that other religions don't count.
Our nation has a unique history. It is very influenced by Judeo-Christian values. You'll see those references in the standards we're recommending for approval. We do not see the influence from those other religions in the same context.
This is the slightly watered-down version of the Christian Nationalist argument that we are a Christian Nation. It's bunk, but it's bunk you can expect to hear, a suggestion that somehow the authors of the First Amendment who wrote that the government shouldn't endorse any particular religion really meant to say that Christianity (or at least certain select versions of it) are supposed to enjoy a special status above all other religions practiced by citizens.
It's a reminder that when Walters calls the wall between church and state a "radical myth," what he really means by "religion" is "my version of Christianity." He has no interest in freeing Other People's Religions or doing things like recognizing them in K-12 classrooms.
He wants the government to enforce and support a special status for select religions, which is a terrible idea for everyone, including and especially people of faith, who would soon find themselves having to jockey for official government support for their particular faith. Walters is making the classic mistake of imagining that this power would be good because he has failed to imagine circumstances in which the power could be wielded by people other than himself.
The framers had experience that allowed them to have much better imaginations than Walters, and they knew better than to pursue the Walters path of establishing a state-favored, state-promoted, state-supported religion.
But it's key to understanding the christianist wing of MAGA-- as Katherine Stewart explains in The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism:
It [Christian nationalism] asserts that legitimate government rests not on the consent of the governed but adherence to the doctrines of a specific religious, ethnic, and cultural heritage.
So if you wonder why guys like Walters seem to be anti-democracy and even anti-Constitution, it's because they only recognize the legitimacy and authority of decisions that match their own God-given code of what is Right. $3 million for classroom Bibles may seem like piddly stuff these days, but it's one more example of the larger battle that's going on all over the country.
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