Oklahoma talks Christian values. I want to see them—From the Oklahoman

I'm a third-generation Oklahoman.

My parents grew up in rural Oklahoma and graduated from Drumright High School. Oklahoma is more than where I live and vote. It's part of my family's story.

For much of my professional life, I worked alongside family physicians, elected officials and community leaders trying to make Oklahoma healthier. I worked on preventive medicine, access to health care and bringing future physicians into rural Oklahoma.

I was also involved in the effort to protect Oklahoma's tobacco-settlement money and invest it in improving our health for generations to come.

A lot of people deserve credit for that. I mention it because I saw what happens when Republicans and Democrats quit worrying about who gets the credit and work together. It worked. Oklahoma's smoking rate has been cut roughly in half. We can do big things when we work together.

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That's why something about Oklahoma politics today troubles me. We talk an awful lot about Christian values.

Mike Mazzei spoke openly about his Christian faith after winning the Republican nomination for governor. President Donald Trump's endorsement was important to his campaign, and Mazzei thanked Trump for helping him get across the finish line. Congresswoman Stephanie Bice has also received Trump's endorsement.

I don't object to Christians bringing their faith into public life. But I do think it's fair to ask: What do we mean by “Christian values”?

Is it displaying the Ten Commandments and putting Bibles in classrooms? Or should we also see those values in how we live and how we treat other people?

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Compassion. Humility. Honesty. Fidelity. Forgiveness. Caring for the sick. Feeding the hungry. Welcoming the stranger. Respecting the dignity of another human being. Those are the Christian values I recognize.

And here's where I struggle.

President Trump has become enormously important to candidates who campaign on Christian values. Yet much about his public and personal conduct has caused Americans to question how that conduct squares with the same standards.

I'm not asking anyone to agree with me about Trump. I'm asking something harder.

If character and Christian values matter when judging someone from the other political party, shouldn't they matter when judging someone from our own? And shouldn't those values apply to everyone?

A Muslim Oklahoman is an Oklahoman. A Jewish Oklahoman is an Oklahoman. So is the Baptist, the Methodist, the Episcopalian, the evangelical, the agnostic and the person who hasn't been inside a church in 30 years.

Our governor governs all of them. Our members of Congress represent all of them.

So show me your values.

Show me how you treat someone who doesn't look like you, worship like you, vote like you or agree with you.

Show me what you've done for Oklahoma.

Show me whether you can sit across the table from someone you disagree with and still accomplish something worthwhile.

I saw that happen in Oklahoma health care. We didn't ask people how they worshipped or voted before we worked together. We wanted Oklahoma to do better.

Maybe that's the Christian value I've been looking for.

Love your neighbor.

Not just your Republican neighbor. Not just your Democratic neighbor. Not just your Christian neighbor.

Your neighbor.

I'm proud to be a third-generation Oklahoman. That's precisely why I'm asking more of us.

Rodgers and Hammerstein told us, “Oklahoma, you're doing fine.”

I think we can do better than fine.

— Sam Blackstock, Oklahoma City

(Editor's note: The views expressed in this letter are those of the writer and not necessarily those of The Oklahoman)