An Oklahoma lawmaker’s bill that bans AP US History because it accurately depicts positive as well as negative portions of American history is advancing.
Dan Fisher is an Oklahoma Republican lawmaker and Baptist preacher who dresses up as a Revolutionary War era preacher to sell his book series about Revolutionary War era preachers. The image above is an actual photo from Fisher’s Facebook page.
Rep. Fisher is also successfully navigating his bill – which would replace traditional AP U.S. History courses with a selection of religious sermons, the Ten Commandments, and several Ronald Reagan speeches – through the Oklahoma legislature. It passed committee along a party-line 11-4 vote this week, and is now headed for the full House.
To be fair, the bill specifies many non-controversial course materials, including the Federalist Papers and other founding documents, the Magna Carta, United States Supreme Court decisions, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address, and Kennedy’s inaugural address. But as ThinkProgress’ Judd Legum notes, the curriculum includes “nothing from any Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson.”
Why is Rep. Fisher pushing this legislation? He believes the AP coursework emphasizes “what is bad about America.†Actual educators, like the College Board’s John Williamson disagree, calling Fisher’s claims “mythology and not true.â€
Fisher is also part of a group called the Black Robe Regiment, which is dedicated to helping “church leaders and laypeople” work against a “hyper-progressive agenda” and “network and educate themselves as to our biblical responsibility to stand up for our Lord and Savior and to protect the freedoms and liberties granted to a moral people in the divinely inspired US Constitution.”
Today’s church leaders have all but lost that concept of leading their congregations in a Godly manner in all aspects of their worldly existence and are afraid to speak out against the progressive agenda that has dominated our political system for the past century. Through this time the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists. The false wall of separation of church and state has been constructed in such a manner that most are unaware of its limited boundaries. The church and the body of Christ has been attacked on all fronts and challenged by the progressive courts and groups such as the ACLU while we have sat idle in consent. Â
The group’s members reportedly include Steve Kern, who lost his bid to become a state lawmaker but is the husband of Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern. A 2013 article claims that Fisher’s efforts led to a local theatre company losing a grant to produce a show that he deemed pornographic.
Fischer is also the author of a series of books, Bringing Back the Black Robed Regiment.
Fisher’s bill, classified as “emergency” legislation, is not an inexpensive swap. The Oklahoma legislature website notes it is estimated to cost taxpayers in the Sooner State $3,851,500.
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Image via Facebook
Hat tip: ThinkProgress
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