At the start of the Oklahoma state legislature’s sessions, they invite a pastor to speak before the elected officials. It’s a part of the official business.

On March 1st (PDF), Rep. George Faught invited Pastor Bill Ledbetter of Fairview Baptist Church to speak to the House of Representatives.

And… well… you should just watch this:

I watched the whole damn thing. And here are the soundbytes I took away from it:

… this great nation was underpinned and rooted and founded in the person of Christ and his Word, the Bible, and our forefathers never intended that we would have one church or anything like that; they intended on the principles of Christianity and the Bible to give all people freedom to pursue God as they saw fit. (1:58) … … our laws and our civilization and our institution are emphatically Christian. (3:01) … [Thomas Jefferson] never intended for the Separation Clause… to mean to keep the church out of the state’s business. He intended to keep the state out of the church’s business! (4:02) … … if you throw God out, you have to come up with some idea that you’re gonna teach your kids about where they came from! And you have to teach that in school! And now, all across our nation, kids are taught that they are advanced mutations of a baboon! They are taught that they came from a monkey! Let me tell you something: Evolution is not science. And I know that’s not politically correct, but what it is, is an indoctrination to teach a godless worldview… (5:00) … A reprobate mind says this: that it’s ok for a man to marry a man, a woman to marry a woman. Folks, that’s not enlightenment! That’s spiritual darkness! And if we think that we’re going to make same-sex marriage a civil right and God’s gonna [be pleased] about that and say, ‘Well, God Bless America,’ I would invite us to think again. He’s never done it and I don’t believe he ever will. (9:39) … We need to overturn the shedding of innocent blood of this land. Fifty million babies. You know where they all are? All those babies on the crystal sea before God. I can see them out there on the sea. “Cootchie Coo!” And look at God the Father, “Ahh!” If you shed innocent blood as we have for fifty years, there’s no nation ever survived that… (10:30) … We must have people in office, or put people in office, who will make law that corresponds with the word of God and the will of God. Not political correctness, not tolerance. It always brews intolerance. That’s the good news. (11:31)

Scott Cooper points out the scariest part of this whole sermon:

… he received a standing ovation and handshakes from several members of the House of Representatives. And the whole time… the Speaker of the House, Kris Steele, sat behind the pastor saying nothing except an occasional hallelujah.

So that’s what “separation of church and state” is like in America. And people wonder why atheists are angry.

Hey, Freedom From Religion Foundation, I think the Oklahoma legislature just handed you a victorious lawsuit on a silver platter.

(Thanks to @BeardedSkeptic for the link)



