Oklahoma superintendent orders schools to teach the Bible

btaf45@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 134 points –
Oklahoma superintendent orders schools to teach the Bible
spectrumlocalnews.com
25

Studying the bible is what started me on the path to atheism.

Agreed. How anyone can go, "This is our truth. This book is our law." And then explain how they just ignore all the parts that aren't convenient for them, and brush it away as of it's nothing.

The concept of a divine being is fine, but religion is disgusting. What it does to people is horrible.

^1^ Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

^2^ So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ^3^ But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ^4^ so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

—Matthew 6:1–4

I like to quote Matthew 6:5-6 to them too.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

They probably meant the true bible, “C Programming Language” by Kernigan & Ritchie. Good to teach kids about software.

Old testament, or ANSI C?

K&R is Old Testament and New Testament is “The C++ Programming Language”, by Bjarne Stroustrup.

Is he specifying how to teach the Bible? Because as a "here's some crazy shit people believe" approach could be interesting.

I've been forced to it young and I think it only built up my critical thinking and rejected religion altogether. Same with my siblings.

"If people's clothes are made of two different materials, you kill them with rocks, kids!"

unless they’re priests – mixed fabrics were only for the elite, not the peons

The number of just purely evil people that end up getting elected in the world is just making me wonder why democracy was ever invented in the first place.

Democracy assures a regular rotation of bad leaders. Otherwise, we tend to see that "divine right of kings" and lifetime dictatorship thing.

I would teach all the cool fictional parts, like the apocalypse. Also, the gay parts, and the raping.

The part where Lot ("the only righteous man in Sodom and Gemorrah") gets drunk and sleeps with his daughters would be a good one I think.

If I recall they rape him, so that’s fun and wholesome.

“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone,” Walters said in a statement. “Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation, which is why Oklahoma educational standards provide for its instruction.”

I guess that’s true. It illustrates how forcing citizens into a government mandated religion contributed to fighting for independence from British rule.

What’s next? Mandating black students tend the school grounds during recess to teach them about the Civil War?