HUMANISM, A RECOGNIZED RELIGION, IS BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

SLIPPERY SLOPE?

by Steve Fair

     Last week, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond reversed an official opinion by his predecessor John O’Connor.  In December 2022, O’Connor was asked by the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board (SVCSB) if Oklahoma taxpayer dollars could be used by religious affiliated private schools.  The Archdiocese of OKC had presented a proposed charter school to SVCSB, that if approved, they described would be unapologetically Catholic.  O’Connor said, ”a state should not be allowed to discriminate against religious affiliated private participants who wish to establish and operate charter schools in accordance with their faith alongside other private participants.”  

     In a letter to the SVCSB, Drummond disagreed and said “religious liberty is one of our most fundamental freedoms.  It allows us to worship according to our faith, and to be free from any duty that may conflict with our faith.  The opinion as issued by my predecessor misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion.”   

     Oklahoma Speaker of the House Charles McCall, (R-Atoka) said the conflicting opinions by the two AGs showed how important passage of the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act (OPCTC) is for Oklahoma parents and students.  The OPCTC would provide tax credits for parents who send their children to private schools, religious or otherwise.  Three observations:

     First, O’Connor’s opinion is consistent with a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court(SCOTUS).  In June 2020, the SCOTUS ruled 5-4 the state of Montana could give tax incentives for people to donate to a scholarship fund that provides money to Christian school for student tuition expenses.  Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion: “A state need not subsidize private education.  But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”

     Second, Drummond admits the issue is unsettled.  In his letter to SVCSB, Drummond wrote that it remains unclear whether charter schools are public schools because they receive tax dollars.  Drummond said he hoped the SCOTUS would take up the issue in their current term.  Drummond wrote that if approval of one faith’s charter school application was done, it could result in the approval of all faith’s charter school.  Drummond contended the result would be taxpayers funding schools teaching theological doctrine they disagreed with.  He urges the SVCSB to be careful in reviewing the Archdiocese’s application, calling approval, ‘a slippery slope.’  Drummond’s opinion was probably a safe opinion, based on the current pending cases before the SCOTUS.

     Third, tax dollars belong to the taxpayers, not the state.  Tax dollars don’t belong to an elected officials, a state agency, a school district,  or the legislature.   Just because taxes are paid into state coffers, they don’t cease to be taxpayer’s money.  But it appears Oklahoma elected officials don’t really believe that.  True school choice bills that would have empowered Oklahoma parents to take ‘their’ tax dollars and use them to pay tuition at a private school were dead on arrival in the state senate. 

     In 1961, the SCOTUS ruled Secular Humanism was a religion and therefore protected under the First Amendment.  Humanists believe man is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without a belief in God.  That means when God is not recognized in the public square, humanism- is being taught by default.   Isn’t giving humanist educators tax dollars also a slippery slope?  Aren’t taxpayers already funding religious teaching they disagree with?