A little review of AUOK activities this year so far.

On March 29th, 2008 AUOK hosted the "Information Forum: The State of Separation of Church & State in Oklahoma" at OCCC in Oklahoma City.
We had several very informative forum discussions. The following links will take you to Google videos of three of them. Abbie Smith presented: Should Intelligent Design be discussed in Public Schools? Jim Huff presented: Legislating Religious Expression in Public Schools. Dr. Bruce Prescott presented: Origin of the Oklahoma Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. Former Rep. Debbie Blackburn presented: Use of State Tax Dollars to Fund OFBCI Projects. The Keynote Speaker was Arnold Hamilton, Oklahoma Observer Editor, presenting a talk entitled, "A Perspective on the Status of Separation of Church and State in Oklahoma".

Attendees drove in from all corners of the state and participated in lively discussion about these important and timely topics. AUOK plans to repeat a similar forum next spring. I'm sure we can count on local legislators and activists to help raise some new issues for us to discuss then.

A few days prior on Mar 26th AUOK along with the Interfaith Alliance and many many more groups nationwide in the First Freedom First Telecast. This event included Actors, musicians and comedians joining church-state community members in 25 theaters across the country to put church-state separation on the national agenda during the 2008 election season. If you missed it or want to watch it again, the full program is available online here.

On May 1st the 2008 Interfaith Day of Prayer and Reflection took place on the south steps of our state capitol buidling. The event was a celebration of freedom of conscience for ALL people.