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"Spoke to a lady a while back who had just moved here from back east. She commented on how religion here was different than where she was from, how community here was different. People here didn't mingle/socialize as much with their local community or neighborhood, but instead kept to their church group. Instead of the neighborhood kids playing soccer or baseball together, it was a church team. The lady had mentioned that though many went to church where she was from, often different churches and even different religions, they still all came together and socialized outside of that. Here in this new Tulsa neighborhood, if you or your kids didn't go to the same church as the people next door,there werent as many opportunities to socialize. A local church can offer sports, cafe's, movie nights, classes, a gym, daycare, all sorts of event, etc. They wall themselves up behind little "mini cities". And even then, it may not be that there are different amentities and events, but the culture is different. Your not us. This is my group here. This is where I live my life and spend my free time. These are the people I associate with. Churches here will "reach out" to, but but seem to be less and less part of, the broader community.
Another topic I would like to see the writer touch on is this other view that visitors, and some locals, often comment on. They note how religious Oklahomans are, how many churches there are, how many people go to church and call themselves believers, etc. Very high statistics. We are very religious here. And then they also note the other things that we rank very high on: infant mortality, homicide, drug use, obesity and poor health, divorce, teen pregnancy, smoking, alchoholism, child abuse and neglect,(In the 10years we have been at war in the middle east, we in the US have murdered more of our own children than soldiers were killed in those wars, and of course Oklahoma is leading the way.), (Tulsa's homicide rates are close to being third world, we can easily reach 60 or more homicides a year for a population of less than 400,000 Then compare that to some "Godless, as some locals would call them" European cities with populations over 3 million that average around 8 homicides per year.) Then we continue to try and pass laws that make our state even more conservatively religious as if we wanted to be as religious and punative as...Afghanistan? Yes that's an exaggeration. But you can get the point. Some see us as very religious and then can't help but notice the correlating very high crime/health issues. Again, perhaps its not the religion per say but the type of religion, not the community, but type of community.
Oh, and as to all those ever more conservative laws we Oklahomans keep trying to pass to punish more or make illegal this or that. Isn't there some where in the Bible that says in Heaven the laws are written on the, Hearts and Minds of men, not in books and on paper? And doesn't the Lord teach us to pray... on earth as it is in Heaven? Shouldn't that be our direction?"
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