JONATHAN TURLEY

For many, the campaign of Rex Duncan, an Oklahoma legislator, upset at receiving a free Koran (or Quran) was just an example of one highly bigoted individual. For the prior story, click here However, now 17 legislators have followed suit to confirm that a significant number of Oklahoma legislators hold the same obnoxious and unamerican views. For the latest story, click here For those of us who would prefer that religion and politics remains separate, there was a principled position to take: leaving any religious gifts as private matters. However, Duncan went out of his way to issue a hateful rejection of Islam while praising the Bible that he received and probably displays. It is an unfortunate trend among purported defenders of religious freedom that they sometimes show both an intolerance and ignorance of other faiths. These 17 legislators have now made Oklahoma a symbol of sectarian hatred despite the fact that the state is filled with educated, tolerant and faithful people. The question is how those people further along the evolutionary chain will respond to such knuckle-dragging conduct.