Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
Dan, I went to Putnam City schools in OKC and it seems like 98% of the kids were evangelicals and most Baptists.

I clearly remember several of my teachers talking about church and the bible, always from an evangelical view. In elementary school teachers would tell the girls "it is not God's will" for them to wear any sort of makeup, and other such nonsense.

At Hefner Jr. High -- at that time the largest junior high in the state -- we could not have dances because our principal was Baptist. Also, girls could not wear blue jeans and other crazy strict rules, all due to his personal convictions. At adjacent Central Jr. High, they had no such rules at all.

In high school, there was a morning prayer over the intercom system where the student Chaplain -- almost always a member of PC Baptist Church -- mentioned Jesus every single time. Same at all sporting events. Nevermind we had some Jewish kids and plenty who weren't religious at all.

There was so much peer pressure that as a Catholic I was frequently told I was going to hell if I didn't go to Baptist church and go running down the aisle to my born-again salvation.


If it sounds like I'm bitter, it's because I am. All of this was completely out of control and inappropriate. No kid in public school should have ever been subjected to that type of religious zealotry, let alone in what at the time was considered the best schools system in the state.

I assure you my cousins in Wisconsin had no such experiences.
I had similar experiences in my small western Oklahoma town. It was dominated by the Baptist and Church of Christ denominations. It permanently turned me against those 2 denominations.