James M. Redwine

Ryan Walters

70 X 7

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Peter eventually made it to the rank of saint; although he may have paid a heavy price for it. Peter was uncouth but Jesus stated he was the foundation of Jesus’ church. According to the New Testament, Jesus and Peter had many one-on-one conversations about theological matters, including forgiveness. In Matthew, Ch. 18, vs. 15-21, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”

In other words, both Donald Trump and Hunter Biden are clothed with a robe of get out of jail free cards based on our Constitution’s Presidential Pardon Power. Oklahoma’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, is not correct; America was not founded on Biblical principles but on principles of the European Enlightenment. Its army was led by George Washington who owned slaves and its Constitution was drafted by fellow slave owner James Madison who was Washington’s staunchest supporter. Washington’s physical presence and Madison’s great mental prowess were two of the main building blocks of our country. The President’s Pardon Power was inserted into the Constitution, probably, because most of the Founding Fathers who had a foundation in the history of the monarchies of Europe expected George Washington to become America’s first king and the Pardon Power was most likely a vestige of the European “Divine Right of Kings” to have the “Final Say” in matters calling for mercy. Instead, we might seek guidance from our Founding Fathers and such other secular authorities as Professor Joseph Campbell who taught mythology and literature at Sarah Lawrence College for many years. Unfortunately, Professor Campbell passed away in 1987, but in his 1972 book Myths to Live By at pages 188-189 Campbell wrote:

…. “The modern Western concept of a legal code is not of a list of unassailable divine edicts {such as the Code of Hammurabi or the Ten Commandments for examples} but of a rationally contrived, evolving compilation of statutes, shaped by fallible human beings in council, to realize rationally recognized social (and therefore temporal) aims. We understand that our laws are not divinely ordained; and we know also that no laws of any people on earth ever were.”

Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump must navigate America’s Constitution where Article II, §2, clause 1 provides, “The President shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment.”

Pardons are granted by democratically elected Presidents. Over the years thousands of pardons have been granted. President Biden has pardoned his own son after repeatedly and publicly stating he would not. Donald Trump may pardon numerous January 06, 2020 defendants after repeatedly and publicly stating he would. Some people find both Presidents’ actions repugnant. If so, they may work to change the people-made Constitution or work to elect somebody else or impeach whomever the country has elected. After all, our Founding Fathers bequeathed to us a democracy based on free will.

 

The Foundation

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I received my early secular schooling from the public schools in Pawhuska, Osage County, Oklahoma. My religious education was received from my family and the preachers and Sunday School teachers at the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Pawhuska. There was a great deal of osmotic transfer in both directions, but my church never seeped into issues of government and my schools never wandered into matters of faith.

My favorite Sunday School teacher was Violet Willis who, as a child, had been taken from her Osage tribal home and indoctrinated into Christianity at the government school at Chilocco. My favorite high school American History teacher was Mike Burton who never let questions of historical fact be conflated with matters of religious faith.

My foundations of faith and fact were scrupulously kept separate by the responsible adults, both secular and sectarian. Science prevailed in public school classrooms and lessons of morality were the focus at home and church. Never did I hear nor see any religious material or teaching at school; that was the province of the clergy.

At school I did receive twelve years of education in the history and foundations of America. I learned that our Founders rebelled against religious tyranny and monarchial rule. The separation of our three equal branches of government and especially the separation of religion and government were the clarion call of our republican form of democracy. Although we had to be ever vigilant to keep faith from seeking to control fact.

Such issues as the Salem Witch Trials, the Scopes Monkey Trial and efforts to slip or demand the instillation of a particular doctrine into public curriculum are constant danger signs that our democracy is fragile. Our Founders feared religious intoleration or practice. The very first of our United States Bill of Rights demands: 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

And to their credit, those Founders of Oklahoma’s Constitution provided in Article II of Oklahoma’s Bill of Rights:

“Public money or property–use for sectarian purposes. No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister or other religious teacher or dignitary or sectarian institution as such.”

No god of any religion is mentioned in the U.S. Constitution and neither the Bible nor the Ten Commandments had any place in our Founders’ careful crafting of our form of government. If our public schools are to post and teach our history, they should post the Bill of Rights and explain to America’s students how our country has managed to survive as a democracy for well over 200 years because it has avoided allowing any religion to control our future leaders.

Perhaps, Oklahoma’s State Superintendent of Education, Ryan Walters, who on June 27, 2024 during a meeting of the State Board of Education called for the mandatory teaching of the Bible and the posting of the Ten Commandments in every fifth through twelfth grade public-school classroom in Oklahoma, was confused. The Oklahoma law that in 2012 established his position (70 O.S. 2011, §3-107) defines the powers and duties of the elected State Superintendent:

“Upon proper request, the State Superintendent shall advise school district superintendents (concerning) school laws, including court decisions, Attorney General opinions and ‘other informative matter relating to the school laws as deemed appropriate.’”

The United States of America was not founded on any religion’s dogma or doctrine and, in fact, it was specifically immunized against the dangers thereof. I thank my church and school teachers for understanding that and informing me.