A Group Is Trying to Make Christianity the Official State Religion of Mississippi

​ In the 1930s, students at Ole Miss were tasked with choosing a new name for their football team. Although "Ole Massas" (the slave term for masters) w​as a close second, "The Rebels" narrowly won out. Their leader was Colonel Reb, a white-haired, plantation-owning cartoon with a prominent jaw and a cane.

But while the NFL is still trying to figure out how to deal with the whole Redskins problem, the Southeastern Conference sorted shit out with their most controversial logo years ago. In 2010, students voted to replace Reb with an innocuous black bear— an homage to William Faul​kner's story "The Bear."

Considering that Faulkner's story is about a bear that gets shot, the new mascot kinda sucks. Or at least, a Southerner who ruthlessly bought and sold human beings is more intimidating as a mascot. But Arnold Randallson isn't mad because a dead animal now represents his alma mater. He's mad at the principle of the matter.

Randallson is the director of the Magnolia State Heritage Foundation, a group that grew out of the Tea Party but that he said became independent in 2012. Inspired by the loss of Colonel Reb, Randallson and his group have decided to pursue passing  ​Initiative 46, a series of measures that would keep political correctness out of Dixie. The proud member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is currently working to make Christianity the official religion of Mississippi. He's in the process of collecting signatures and wants to get the Heritage Initiative, as he calls it, on 2016's ballot.

"We're the most religious state, something we like to bring up whenever we can," Randallson told me. "People say were last in everything, but we believe we are first in the most important statistic." In fact, it's true: The latest Gallup poll shows 61 percent of Mississippians consider t​hemselves "very religious," making it more religious than even Utah.

The Heritage Initiative would also preserve the cultural icons of Mississippi that many people consider racist symbols, lest there be another loss like Colonel Reb. Of course, Randallson doesn't see anything wrong with wanting to make "Dixie's Land," which was popularized as a minstrel performance, as the state song (" If Abra​ham Lincoln enjoyed the song, I don't see how it could be a problem.") He also feels the liberal media has unfairly maligned the Confederate flag: "Blacks, Indians, and even some Chinese and Hispanic immigrants fought under it."

And while some might wonder "why bother?" when it comes to making English the official state language, given that only 0.2 pe​rcent of the US's Hispanic population lives in Mississippi to begin with, Randallson has an answer for that, too. "Why wouldn't you just come to Mississippi and learn English?" he asks, noting that printing forms in one language would also save money.

Randallson said his amendment is bipartisan and has something for everyone, considering it includes a clause about historically black colleges not being required to merge with other universities. While that's a little tricky, he does bring up some decent points about symbols like the flag, which Americans were still divided on, according to a 2000 G​allup poll. For instance, Randallson reminds me about the treatment of Native Americans during Westward expansion, which occurred under the Stars and Stripes. But that doesn't mean the Confederate flag doesn't stand for something shitty—it's just a reminder that most flags do.

Randallson's arguments haven't stopped a lot of people from hating on the Magnolia State Heritage Campaign. "We get a lot of hateful comments directed toward us," he told me. "A lot of liberals or atheists or left-leaning people have communicated with us that they'd be perfectly happy with us seceding and getting Mississippi's representation out of Congress."

Of course, Mississppi could never secede. For one thing, it's the poorest ​state in the union. And for as much as some of its citizens may distrust the federal government, they couldn't do without it. In 2012, ​Dixie got $2.47 dollars back from the federal government for every dollar it paid in taxes.

But Randallson said secession isn't part of the Heritage Initiative. He's just focused on getting the 107,216 signatures he needs to get his constitutional amendment on the ballot for 2016.

"We've already cleared over 8,000 signatures and our official tally will be on the site on December 1 st," he said. "We have more than 100 volunteers and captains for 50 counties out of the 82 as well as a lot of optimism and hope that Mississippi will vote to save her heritage."