Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, has once again, from the safety of his car, proven that he is the most American and Christian state school Superintendent in the country. Let's hear it from Mr. Filipkowski so as to not get too many additional views of the original post:
Per Mr. Walters:
Since the sixties:
"Atheism is a state-sponsored religion in our schools."
His new initiative combats this "religion" by adding a minute of silence to pray.
As one of the commenters noted:
The moment of silence has been state law since 2002 and legally consists of one minute. Pretty weak on Ryan's part as former Governor Mary Fallin was more righteously religious 20+ years before him. Maybe he should have tried for two minutes of silence. Or one moment twice a day.
I grew up in Oklahoma and attended its public schools throughout the 1970s and 80s.
We OFTEN observed one-minute moments of silence. Usually after questions such as "Who wrote the Bill of Rights?" or "What does the 1st amendment say regarding government and religion?" This question rarely made it past the Atheist Review Board. Sometimes in order to get further moments of silence, an activist teacher might ask "What are some Supreme Court cases related to freedom of religion?" A guaranteed 10 to 15 minutes of silence. Sometimes, it was long enough to get through a quarter of a standard standard church service (one would leave out the hymns and keep call-response comments internal due to the observation of silence). On rare occasions one of the atheist "know-it-alls" (all Oklahomans are familiar with these loud, boastful public atheists) would answer these questions (with citations and examples) which would give one time to complete their prayer service (sans communion). With a particularly loud know-it-all, you could reinstate the hymns.
I often looked forward to our state-sponsored atheist holidays such as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (the Atheists being unaware of the religious origins of the names of those days). Mind you, we still attended school on those holidays. The primary atheist holiday was summer break. The one week break for the Christian holiday of Christmas was a major blow to the atheist agenda at the heart of most public policy in Oklahoma. Nonetheless, the atheist aristocracy responded by adding an additional week to the holiday to include the atheist celebration of the New Year. Well played by our atheist overlords.
However, since Mary Fallin's toppling of the once-great atheist doctrine of what has since been referred to as "not-one-minute silences" (generally observed immediately following the Pledge of Allegiance), domination of the Oklahoma Public schools by the atheist religion (religion as defined by Mr. Walters) has considerably waned and our schools have flourished.
I am uncertain if Ryan's press car-nference with his auto-thoritarian signaling will drive people to action or inaction. In my case, it has driven me to post on Daily Kos for the first time to share my memories that may or may not be historically accurate!