Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers is a far-right pastor and unabashed Christian nationalist who literally wants to see this nation taken back to the 1600s. Waging a crusade to abolish abortion, ban no-fault divorce, and outlaw pornography, Deevers is quite clear about his intent to turn biblical precepts into law.
This was on full display when Deevers appeared on "Open Mike with Michael Thiessen" yesterday, where he explained that the justification for one of his pieces of proposed legislation is built entirely on provisions from the Bible.
Senate Bill 1825 would take the crime of "willfully, knowingly and without probable cause [making] a false report" alleging that someone committed a crime and change the penalty so that those found guilty would face the same punishment that the falsely reported crime carries:
Any person convicted of violating the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor ... if the false report accused a person of a misdemeanor, likewise, any person convicted of violating the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a felony if the false report accused a person of a felony. The penalty for such misdemeanor or felony shall be the same as the provisions for such offense of the accused crime in the false report.
Deevers rattled off multiple Bible verses in defense of his legislation, particularly the various "eye for an eye" provisions contained in the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy.
"Essentially, if you are a malicious witness [and] you knowingly, willingly lie about someone and charge them with something, then whatever the punishment they would have received, you're going to receive," Deevers said. "We get that from numerous places in [biblical] law."
"Deuteronomy 19:21 gives kind of the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, along with Genesis 9:6 and Exodus 21," Deevers added. "Essentially, what this law does is it it looks at Exodus 20:16, Exodus 23:1-9, Leviticus 19:16, Deuteronomy 5:20, Deuteronomy 19:16- 20, Proverbs 6,16-17, and 19—I know that's a lot of references—but it's just to say this is a firmly established law in Scripture that if you bear false witness, that you will be punished with the same punishment in the court and the community."
"Proverbs 19:5: 'A false witness will not go unpunished and he who breathes out lies will not escape,'" Deevers declared. "If we really want to protect people in society, we need to bring back fundamental law and what is just in accordance with God's equal weights and measures."
Obviously, filing a false report is already illegal in Oklahoma, meaning that Deevers' legislation is designed simply to change the current penalty from a fine and/or imprisonment so that the punishment will be in accordance with the Bible.
