Ten Commandments bill causes controversy
A newly proposed bill could require all Oklahoma classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. However, not everyone is on board with the idea.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A newly proposed bill could require all Oklahoma classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. However, not everyone is on board with the idea.
The bill says the Ten Commandments were a basis for the Founding Fathers that wrote the Constitution, but opponents say this bill would violate that very document.
"The Ten Commandments is one of our nation's founding documents," said Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland.
"The idea that Christianity is pushing anything inside schools is problematic to me," said Chaz Stevens, who is opposed to HB 2962.
Controversy continues surrounding decisions inside Oklahoma public schools mixing church and state.
"This is what we want on our school walls? Personally, I'm a math guy and I'd rather have algebra, you know, A squared plus B squared, equal C squared," Stevens said. "I'd be a proponent for that, but instead I have to put up 'Thou Shalt Not Kill.'"
Olsen is the author of the bill. He says this would give schools an ethical system to live by and is confident this would decrease the amount of issues that arise in public schools.
"This won't hurt anybody, whether you're of one Christian denomination or another, or whether somebody might be Jewish or somebody might be neither of those," Olsen said.
However, Stevens argues it is about religion. To prove his point, he makes posters showing the Ten Commandments but not in a "Christian form."
"Hopefully when they see some of my content that I've created and they're going to say, holy crud, do we really want Chaz's artwork up on the walls? Well, if you're going to put one, you're going to have to put the other, because the public school system can't choose one or the other," Stevens said.
Stevens says he hopes the bill doesn't pass, but if it does, he will be flooding Oklahoma legislators' offices and Oklahoma schools with his posters.
HB 2962 is available to be heard when the legislative session starts February 5.