Issue Position: Church and State Relations

Issue Position

Senate Bill 1140.
Many voters have asked if I would have supported SB 1140. Under this bill, religious agencies could receive public funds for adoption and foster care, while also refusing to serve single parents, divorced parents, same sex parents, or parents with different religions.

It is very difficult for teachers, social workers, and health care providers to meet the needs of all children and families in Oklahoma with legislation like SB 1140 because it promotes fear, distrust, and alienation of a wide range children and the families who are caring for them.

Through my experience as a school counselor, advocate for early childhood education, and religious children's leader I learned that young children must FIRST have a close and stable emotional connection with parents to grow as moral and critically thinking people. When children's full array of physical, mental, intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and ethical needs are met, parents preserve a child's opportunity to become ethically equipped to make individual moral and spiritual decisions in later years. This kind of emotional connection and ethical training can be provided by families that SB 1140 permits to exclude for religious reasons.

I am continuously dismayed by the ways my religion (which has provided me great spiritual assurance and family stability) has been used by politicians to stigmatize, bully and alienate many Oklahomans.

I believe SB 1140 unnecessarily perpetuates a distrust of families and children who do not find themselves falling neatly within the dominant view of "family," which is heavily influenced by christian doctrine. Granted, the expression of this doctrine is protected by the US Constitution. And for a large majority of Oklahomans, the doctrine on sexuality, gender, and marriage is easy to read, comprehend, accept and follow because it does not disrupt their identity, worth, and acceptance. However, for those within the LGBTQIA community the doctrine is reasonably received as hurtful, contemptuous, and rejecting.

Until recently most Oklahomans have been unaware of the intricate matter of identity and sexuality, and how our identity is formed. The experiences of LGBTQIA and their allies have been mostly hidden and unexpressed to avoid the scorn of religious people. As the legal rights of LGBTQIA have advanced in other states and regions, more Oklahomans who were unaware of the experiences of LGBTQIA Oklahomans, are now growing in our understanding and empathy. We are now receiving helpful training and information to consider how we can maintain healthy, respectful, and supportive relationships with one another in our workplaces, schools, churches and neighborhoods. Our growth in this realm is very tender and vulnerable. And I believe SB 1140 threatens our ability to do this, and it troubles me greatly.

For these reasons, I would have voted against SB 1140. ~ Mary Brown Boren May 13, 2018

{A personal note not related to SB 1140, but my religious perspective}
One's ability to reconcile christian doctrine with a LGBTQIA identity demands and deserves patience, empathy, understanding, and theological guidance. I am profoundly grateful for the ministers and theologians who are willing to provide that reconciliation. I'm not an expert on that realm of Christian theology. But, I am personally committed to the command that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves even our LGBTQIA neighbors. Even more so, I am grounded upon one central doctrine of Christianity -- nothing about our humanity is beyond the reach of the grace of Jesus Christ to reconcile our spirit to God, not even our sexual or gender identity. Romans 8:38-39.
​
Reproductive Rights of Women:
​
When discussing this issue with pro-choice voters and pro-life voters in Senate District 16 the broad consensus is that Roe v. Wade effectively balances the interests of the woman, her un-born child, and the state. Roe v. Wade is accepted as well settled precedent and protects the privacy, dignity, and moral agency of women.

Many non-religious and religious views impact the question of when life begins, and when is it morally acceptable to terminate a pregnancy. Because the Constitution sets a boundary on the government to decide and enforce which religious view should be enforced, it is correct to treat the issue of reproductive rights as an issue of separation of church and state, as well as an issue of Constitutional privacy, and equality of women to exert control over our reproductive lives. The voters in Senate District 16 expect these boundaries to be respected in their laws.

Voters in Senate District 16 have also encouraged me to advocate for policies that reduce the crisis in many pregnancies to reduce abortion in Oklahoma. I believe that voters can trust the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party to provide what women in crisis pregnancy need. These Democratic "pro-life policies" include: access to birth control, sex education, access to health for young women, women and children, high quality and affordable child care, domestic violence prevention and prosecution, pregnancy discrimination prevention and prosecution, college affordability, adult education and retraining, mental health care, drug addiction recovery, medical research to reduce health crisis for pregnant women, children's health insurance, affordable housing, WIC, TANF, EIC, SNAP benefits, child support enforcement and collection. All of these policies are to remove the crisis that too many pregnant women face.

Source