The guy pictured above is Pat Ownbey. He's a state representative from Ardmore. Earlier this week, without any explanation or commentary, he shared an article on his Facebook page that was so Islamophobic that it made Senator James Lankford come across as a thoughtful, tolerant, compassionate person.
It's titled "Radical Islam - The Final Solution," and basically argues that Islam is not a religion "subject to First Amendment protections" and that to combat it, "We the People may ultimately be forced to take matters into our own hands."
Here's a snippet:
Wow. James Lankford thinks the First Amendment is a suicide pact, and every person who practices Islam obviously wants to overthrow the US government and kill you. I agree with that 100%! That's why we should deport all Muslims from the country, nuke the Middle East, and force Enes Kanter to cut his creepy mustache. The world will be a much better place when all that happens, especially for Christian theocrats like Pat Ownbey.
In case you're new to show or a terrorist with a kill list, I should probably clarify that I'm joking. Whether they're shooting up a night club, ambushing an abortion clinic, or molesting boys in the shower at church camp, I think we should be worried and aware about all nutjobs and sociopaths with guns regardless of the God they think they worship. I also think they we should find ways to stop these extremists before they commit violence. I'll discuss this in more detail this Sunday night on my new KOSU talk show "Craft Religion," where I provide hot takes on religion in America while pairing new local craft beer with today's hit indie music.
Yawn Doc covered the story earlier today, and in their traditional TLDR fashion, asked Mr. Ownbey why exactly he decided to share the offensive article. Here's his response:
In an interview Monday, Oklahoma Rep. Pat Ownbey (R-Ardmore) refrained from casting an up or down vote in response to what I thought would be a simple inquiry: “Do you think Islam is a religion that should have First Amendment protections?”
Instead, Ownbey opened his reply with a complex grunt of thoughtful consideration.
“That’s an interesting question,” he said. “Frankly, I haven’t done the studying on the Islamic religion to know everything there is to know about it, so to speak at it from an expert opinion would not be right for me to give you a particular opinion, unless I was jumping in there and doing a lot of research on it.”
[...]
Since he is a political leader, I called Ownbey to discuss the piece. He described it as “a good article” and thought “it had interesting opinions.”
“When I post a lot of these things, I don’t necessarily agree with everything I post, but I post to get feedback,” he said. “That was the reason I posted that.”
Yeah. That's it. Even though he didn't specifically solicit or request any reactions, he posted a crazy article that's very indicative of his own backwards beliefs to simply "get feedback." I would suggest you go to Ownbey's page and let him know what you think, but he only allows his approved Facebook friends to leave comments. Fitting, huh?
Anyway, if you want to read the entire crazy post, click here. If you want to read the rest of the Yawn Doc post, click here. If you want more info on my Craft Religion, click here. Thanks.
