By Journalist Rose DeWeese (OSU)
ORU bill 504 presented by representative Burris Public school seeks to implement some of the ten commandments as requirements and offer theology classes. The goal of this piece of legislation is to combat bullying and build honorable characters out of students to be more tolerant.
Representative Christopher Wier NSU shared his side on bill 504 and said, “This world is pretty especially and there’s constitutional obligations we have to uphold and this bill does not need these obligations. For me this is a matter of we are projecting our religions on each other And on children And that is not the safe present to set in the state of Oklahoma.
“Especially right now with how dangerous lawmakers are actively trying to erase other religions by creating a Christian charter school and Christian School board these things are already in place. There are already Christian Schools right now where you can go and learn about the Bible all you want and you can get a $7,000 per semester check to do so.
“So why are we putting this in public schools where we have islamic students, we have hindu students, we have Buddhist students and we have students who are agnostic or atheist and don’t believe in religion and shouldn’t be forced to have that in their schools. It’s just simply gross to me personally and like this has nothing to do with the author. I’ve talked to the author and I think the author is a great person. It came from a place of kindness and ended in a place of exclusion,” (Wier).
Representative Gabriel Hensley of TU highlighted who would be affected were this bill to be passed and said, “Multiple demographics would be victimized by the teachings of the Ten Commandments in schools. I’m thinking of members of other religious groups. I’m also thinking of LGBTQ youthwho have been victimized by the christian church for years,” (Hensley).
ORU House bill 504 ultimately failed.