Introducing the Oklahoma Faith Network

Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists have started a new project that will involve ecumenical churches and interfaith houses of worship in our mission to preserve separation of church and state and to promote the common good.

Here is a link to our new weblog: Oklahoma Faith Network

Most of my work will be on that project and at the weblog in the future.

Review of Oklahoma's 2013 Legislative Session

Excerpt of Arnold Hamilton Reviewing the 2013 Oklahoma Legislative Session from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

An excerpt from Arnold Hamilton's review of Oklahoma's 2013 legislative session for Cleveland County democrats on June 7, 2013. Hamilton is an award winning journalist and editor of the Oklahoma Observer.

Click here to view his entire presentation.

Rev. Sarah Stewart: Do You Hear Him?

Rev. Sarah Stewart: Do You Hear Him? from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Rev. Sarah Stewart, Minister to Young Adults at First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City and 2013 Moderator of the Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma, preaches a sermon entitled "Do You Hear Him?" at Spring Creek Baptist Church on June 2, 2013. The text for the sermon is John 10:22-30.

Wanda Pratt at the Invisible Eve Exhibit

Wanda Pratt at the Invisible Eve Exhibit from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Wanda Pratt, mother of NBA Basketball star Kevin Durant, speaks at the opening of the Invisible Eve Exhibit at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City on May 30, 2013. The exhibit highlights the work of Yousef Khanfar who spent three years photographing women in Oklahoma prisons in order to call attention to the need to find a more just and human way to rehabilitate women who break the law. The exhibit is on display at the Oklahoma Heritage Museum from May 30 to June 7, 2013.

For more information visit the invisible eve website.

Invisible Eve and her Visible Children

Invisible Eve and her Visible Children from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Video excerpts from the opening of the "Invisible Eve" exhibit at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City on May 30, 2013. Internationally renowned photographer Yousef Khanfar spent three years photographing incarcerated women in Oklahoma. The children of these invisible mothers offer visible testimony for the need to find a more just and humane way to rehabilitate the women who break the law. For additional information visit the invisible eve website.

Joey Pyle on Shrines and Signs

Rev. Joey Pyle on Shrines and Signs from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Rev. Joey Pyle, Associate Pastor at Spring Creek Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, preaches a sermon entitled "Shrines and Signs" from the text of Genesis 12:1-9 at Spring Creek Church on May 26, 2013.

Don Holladay on The Inconvenient Life

Don Holladay on The Inconvenient Life from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Don Holladay speaks about environmental issues and climate change in a speech entitled "The Inconvenient Life" at the United Church of Norman (UCC) on May 26, 2013.

Dr. Phil Fenn on Motivated Belief

Dr. Phil Fenn on Motivated Belief from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Phil Fenn, retired pastor emeritus at McFarland United Methodist Church in Norman, OK, speaks about "Motivated Belief" at the United Church of Norman (UCC) on May 23, 2013. Dr. Fenn's speech is the conclusion of a series of speeches sponsored by United Church on the topic, "The Progressive Sermon I Always Wanted to Preach."

Common Ground: An Interfaith Theology

Common Ground: An Interfaith Theology from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Dr. Bruce Prescott, Executive Director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, preaches a sermon entitled "Common Ground: An Interfaith Theology" at the United Church of Norman (UCC) in Norman, Oklahoma on May 5, 2013.

Walter Brueggemann's Sermon on "Beyond Anguish"

Beyond Anguish from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Walter Brueggemann preaches a sermon entitled "Beyond Anguish" at First Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma on April 21, 2013.

A Jubilant Rondo

A Jubilant Rondo from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

The handbell choir at First Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma plays C. Dobrinksi's " A Jubilant Rondo" during the worship service on April 21, 2013. The handbell choir is in the balcony behind the camera.

Walter Brueggemann on Psalm 104

Walter Brueggemann's Bible Study on Psalm 104 from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Walter Brueggemann leading a Bible Study on Psalm 104 at First Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma on Earth Day -- April 21, 2013.

Walter Brueggemann: Journey to the Common Good, Part Three

Walter Brueggemann: Journey to the Common Good, Part Three from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Walter Brueggemann, world renowned author, leading Old Testament interpreter, and William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, speaks about the "Journey to the Common Good" at First Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma. This is part three recorded on April 20, 2013.

Brueggemann was the guest of the Oklahoma Institute for Biblical Literacy.

Panel Discussion on Walter Brueggemann's Journey to the Common Good

Panel Discussion on Walter Brueggemann's Journey to the Common Good from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Walter Brueggemann, world renowned author, leading Old Testament interpreter, and William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, discusses his "Journey to the Common Good" with a pair of distinguished panelists at First Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma on April 20, 2013.

Panelists are Dr. Alan T. Levenson, Schusterman Professor of Jewish Intellectual and Religious History at the University of Oklahoma and Rev. Dr. Lisa Wolfe, Associate Professor of Religion, Endowed Chair of Hebrew Bible, at Oklahoma City University.

Brueggemann and the panelists were the guest of the Oklahoma Institute for Biblical Literacy.

Walter Brueggemann on Deuteronomy

Walter Brueggemann: Journey to the Common Good, Part Two from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Walter Brueggemann, world renowned author, leading Old Testament interpreter, and William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, speaks about the "Journey to the Common Good" at First Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma. This is part two recorded on April 20, 2013. Brueggemann was the guest of the Oklahoma Institute for Biblical Literacy.

Statement for the OCC Press Conference on Healthcare Expansion

The Oklahoma Conference of Churches will hold a press conference at the State Capitol today to encourage Governor Fallin to accept the federal government's medicaid expansion (Obamacare). Here is what I plan to say during the three minutes that have been allotted to me:

I have been to emergency rooms several times in Oklahoma hospitals. Our emergency rooms are clogged with uninsured people with simple headaches, sore throats, ear aches, tooth aches, low grade fevers, rashes, insect bites, and minor scrapes and burns. Many only need over the counter medicines for a common cold or a prescription for the flu. They would be better treated at a doctor’s office or a dentist’s office, but they are underemployed, uninsured and can’t afford one. The only place they are sure to get medical attention -- even for minor ailments -- is at an emergency room.

Meanwhile, care for people with genuine medical emergencies is delayed and their recovery is prolonged and made more difficult.

If the governor and the legislature would accept healthcare expansion, our emergency rooms would not be clogged with people who would be better treated at a doctor’s office or a dentist’s office.

If the governor and the legislature would accept healthcare expansion, public expense for the care of the uninsured would be much more cost effective.

If the governor and the legislature would accept healthcare expansion, emergency room doctors would be able to spend more time treating people with genuine medical emergencies, recovery times would be shorter and outcomes would be better.

If the governor and the legislature would accept healthcare expansion, Oklahomans who have health insurance would no longer be subsidizing expenses for unnecessary emergency room visits by the uninsured.

Accepting healthcare expansion is not only the right thing to do and the moral thing to do, it is also the most cost efficient way to keep Oklahoman’s healthy. And that is without saying anything about the hundreds of millions of dollars that the federal government will send us to help defray the cost of healthcare expansion.

Mainstream Baptists join the Oklahoma Conference of Churches in encouraging Governor Fallin to accept the federal government’s medicaid expansion. We want Obamacare in Oklahoma.

Walter Brueggemann on the Exodus

Walter Brueggemann: Journey to the Common Good from Bruce Prescott on Vimeo.

Walter Brueggemann, world renowned author, leading Old Testament interpreter, and William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, speaks about the "Journey to the Common Good" at First Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma on April 19, 2013.

Brueggemann was the guest of the Oklahoma Institute for Biblical Literacy.

Speech at OCRJ Rally Quoted in News Stories

A couple articles in state newspapers quoted comments I made at the rally yesterday.

The Oklahoman: Women's Rights Supporters Hold Rally at State Capitol

The Tulsa World: Rally Criticizes Oklahoma Lawmakers on Reproductive Rights Issues.

Statement for the OCJR Rally (Revised)

This is the statement that I made at the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice rally at the State Capitol this morning.

At a rally like this last year I spoke about varying religious beliefs concerning when human life begins. For those that are interested in that issue, here is a link.

Today I want to remind us of the dramatic political reversal that has brought us to this moment.

In 1972 Congress passed an Equal Rights Amendment that would have guaranteed that women would have rights equal as men in our society. Twenty-two states passed the Equal Rights Amendment that very year.

In Oklahoma a group of conservative Christian woman did not want to be liberated from their second class status. They organized to stop the ERA and they were successful. The success of those women encouraged conservatives to organize across the country. Ten years later, the Equal Rights Amendment was dead -- three states short of the number needed for ratification.

The defeat of the ERA in Oklahoma was the first successful political effort in the rise of the Religious Right. It encouraged many conservative Christians to get involved in politics and some of them turned their churches into cogs in a vast political machine. That political machine consolidated its base by taking over churches and denominations.

Since the year 2000, but not before, my own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, refuses to permit women to serve as pastors in their churches. Since 1998, but not before, my denomination has been telling women that they have to submit to the will of their husbands – even when their husbands tell them to do something that they know is wrong.

Now that vast political machine has taken over our state legislature.

Now that vast political machine is determined to destroy your right to privacy in reproductive health.

Now that vast political machine is legislating that doctors must conduct medical procedures on women that are unnecessary and invasive.

Now that vast political machine is working to destroy public education.

Now that vast political machine is working to destroy the safety net that protects the health and well-being of the poor, the elderly and the disabled in our society.

It is high time for another dramatic political reversal.

If, in 1972, conservative women in Oklahoma could spark a movement away from freedom from want, away from equal rights for women, and away from reproductive health, then, in 2013, the moderate and progressive women in Oklahoma can spark a movement that will prevail in securing those rights for another generation.

This rally is a good beginning, but I want to remind you that your efforts need to extend beyond the State Capitol.

This movement cannot and will not be successful until you go back and occupy your churches -- go back to the churches that many of you have either been sitting-in in silence or have abandoned.

Let the conservative Christian men and women there know that you believe that God is mad as hell at what they are doing and that you have been commissioned to tell them that God is not going to take it anymore.

I hereby commission you to go back to your churches and synagogues and mosques and houses of worship and be uppity women -- tell them that you are not going to put up with it either.

Ethics Daily Posts Geothermal Story

Ethics Daily has posted a story today about the geothermal HVAC system we installed at our house last year. Here's a link.