'Trump Bible' one of few that meet criteria for Oklahoma classrooms

DrunkEngineer@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 521 points – 'Trump Bible' one of few that meet Walters' criteria for Oklahoma classrooms
oklahoman.com

Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.

A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters.

But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.

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Specifically created for the grift.

Walters is a piece of shit.

Forcing your State to buy 55000 Bibles from ONLY Trump is PROOF that DEMOCRATS are the Swamp!

There is no better description of the anti christ than trump.

Very much so:

https://www.benjaminlcorey.com/could-american-evangelicals-spot-the-antichrist-heres-the-biblical-predictions/

I don't believe in the coming of an antichrist but damn, why do so many prophecies written two millennia ago point to one specific person, especially when those prophecies are so specific

I think they just had a very good idea of the concept of an evil, immoral leader.

They had plenty of them back then after all. Especially in the Roman empire.

But then there's also the seven heads (seven trump headquarters), getting shot in the head thinking it's fatal but surviving seemingly through a miracle, the ones about his relations to the kingdom to the south, resulting in criticism from the north and east etc

Of course it's coincidence (at some point there just has to be someone who can be accurately described with these prophecies) but it's still very interesting

Shouldn’t Church and State doctrine (or whatever it is called) immediately make all of this illegal?

Yep! That’s why they’re counting on, throwing enough dollars at the conservative judges that they will let this theocratic bullshit stand.

Fuck them and anyone who supports their religion

It's probably purposely designed to create a court case so the Supreme Court can hollow out that principle.

I will give credit to Republicans on this. They spent decades playing thre ong game with the judiciary. Now, that Republicans achieve their goal. They are now engineering facts to get cases to SCOTUS. The only way to play, is don't appeal cases. Leave the cases at the trial level or first level appeal.

Fix the judiciary, then start taking these fucks all the to top.

It’s not mixing the two, it’s a founding document of our nation, and what our society is based on. /probably

As someone who is at least a bit religious, get that blasphemy out of the Bible, don’t allow that blasphemer to profit off religion, and whatever you do, get such blasphemy out of the school. Being the state with the 49th best education is not a good thing, nor is aspiring to 50th

This is the perfect job for the satanic temple.

The bible, complete with all American founders documents : brought to you by satan.

I so want them to do this. Big ol baphomet right on the cover, and put the TST tenets on the first page. If they undercut the Trump bible aren't they kind of obligated to go with the cheaper option?

Any company that sells bibles should sue the state for uncompetitive processes. This is illegal

Bible [...] must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights

I'm sorry? Why would people mixed (modern) political text to their religious ones? Aren't people buying bibles suppose to care about their religion?

They catered the criteria so only a single company fit the bill

By making those requirements they are making sure money is diverted from teacher's paychecks an into Trump's pockers

Why are they putting bibles in classrooms in the first place? Did they repeal the First Amendment?

Apparently, the State Superintendent gets to decide what gets taught in classrooms, and how it gets taught is left up to individual school districts. But it's fully within his right because no "commentary" is allowed around the Bible, just how important it was to America's history.

Why that requires a physical copy that's leather bound, I have no idea. Nor why the money has to come from the fucking payroll budget.

Oklahoma is ranked 49th in education, yet this is what we're spending money on? Seriously?

I'm certain they take 49th with equal amounts salt and pride, as that means theres still a few states left to beat.

The first amendment doesn't apply to Christian evangelism.

According to SCOTUS at any rate.

The Bible is really important for understanding western society and it's history. It has a place in the classroom.

I'm sure that was not the motivation behind that law but it's true.

There are history books that can contextually bring our students up to speed on what religious texts drove certain events/societies.

You're not wrong but, thankfully, studying history and teaching the impact of things doesn't require the things to physically be in the room.

It might fit into history if it hadn't been changed and edited, sections omitted, additions made, for the entire time it existed. It was only the printing press that allowed us to have true copies for the masses.

It surely has a place in history, but not for psychology or sociology. In my opinion there is some value educationally but its very limited. There are even denominations that exclude books or add them, so it depends which religion you consider to be the "main" one.

To have a truly nuanced class about it, would have to be in college I would think.

It has a place in history because the last thousand years of Western civilization have been directly influenced by it

I just don't know how much you could go into it in grade school. They tend to leave out the bad stuff the US does until you go to college.

people still read the KJV?

and like, not as some sort of masochistic snoodery?

Some denominations do believe that only the KJV is the correct English translation. Many of those people do not understand what the words actually mean. They interpret the text very narrowly and frequently are told by others what interpretation is correct.

They also don't know that King James was gay. And it pleases me to inform them.

Which the whole symbolism of the temple veil being torn when Jesus carked on the cross was meant to mean there was no need for anyone (the clergy) to do that or to intercede.

See also: Jesus chasing away salesmen in the temple, because they used god to peddle shit to people.

also that part where god snuffed a guy because he was an asshole. I kinda wish he'd go back to doing that. (well. maybe not. I get the feeling my definition of 'asshole' and their god's definition are different.)

I've had plenty of asshole moments. Let's hold off on that one.

like seriously, though, god totally tolerated the existence of all sorts of down right awful people. what kind of asshole do you have to be... to get "fuck you in particular" kind of attention?

Well Jesus is part of the Christian pantheon and those guys are just practicing Judaism with blood magic.

"If the King James version was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me".

I live in the shithole south, and I have heard this unironically on multiple occasions. Please send help. And education.

That's insane, because the KJV is objectively a bad translation. I'm not even Christian anymore and it still annoys me how popular it is.

It's public domain so they don't have to pay for the copyright of a modern translation.

KJV people are always around. Thee thy and thou.

It's what I had to memorize as a kid so it's embedded in my brain.

In Ye Olden Tymes, people learned to read with it, to much the same effect.

Very clever, Christians.

Sure along with ever other translation I can find. I prefer the geneva translation but that is hard to find so I often end up with the king james when I need a printed copy. for those not familar, the good parts of king james is where they took the geneva and updated to modern english - this should tell you something about my tastes.

if that doesnt convince you that religion is made up on the spot for conniving convenience, nothing will

Religion is the multi-tool, always there to back you up no matter what.

I'm sure jeebus had a thing or two to say about marketplaces of thieves and swindlers.

"It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a den of robbers." -Matthew 21:13

To be clear, I don't believe in fairy tales, but they clearly don't either.

I like to read the biblical texts as texts you have to interpret. Basically like fairytales and fables are in versions that aren't from the brothers Grimm and especially Disney - they often were used to carry points that wouldn't have been tolerated by authority if they hadn't been covered like that, or simply to tell about some aspects of life.

When reading it like this the Bible is an extremely interesting book, and I'm saying that as an atheist.

Its more interesting once you find out how many things were changed over the years. The why it was changed is the most curious part. Was it a tired scribe who skipped a passage, completely omitting it? Was it intentionally rewritten by someone to "clarify" its intent?

There are some good papers and presentations recorded online if you are interested.

As a christian, that's how I like to read it too.

With the 3 million they would save buying the cheaper bibles(something they shouldn't be doing either) they could wash a lot of men's feet. They could be teaching all these students how to fish. That is their job after all.

For fuck's sake in ten years we're going to hear kids tell us the Constitution was given to us by Jesus.

There will be no Constitution

Oh no. It's an important point of legitimacy to have one. It won't be worth a damn though.

Wasn't it George W. Bush that said, "... it's just a god damn piece of paper?"

I'm sure he wasn't the first. (Yeah I'm looking at you Andrew Jackson, we haven't forgotten.)

Yep, that’s when you start with the answer you want, then set “general” requirements that only it can meet

Who tf wrote those requirements?

It seems pretty clear to me that they intended the Trump Bible to be the only one that fit all the specifications.

While it's obviously weird to want the bill of rights and declaration of independence in your Bible; let me just say, if your goal is to convert kids to Christianity, the KJV bible is just completely opaque to children that don't normally read 17th century literature.

At the rate these political hacks are going, students won't be able to parse modern text.

They want it to be opaque, that lends it an air of mystery and importance, and then when the preacher drills contradictory information into their heads theyre less likely to question it or look it up themselves because if the church says god hates gays or poors or immigrants it must be in that big scary book somewhere.

Rev 22:18 NET testify to the one who hears the words of the prophecy contained in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book

I always object to adding anything to the bible. It is fine to want a printed constitution but it should be a separate book.

Sacrilegous in two ways - adding to the scriptures, and promoting a religion with the state. Pick either one, both lanes lead the same direction.

Look, I hate this too, but that's not what that passage means, clearly. Addendums aren't the same as adding new fake scripture (although since there are multiple ideologies on what books of the Bible should be cannon, who's to say). Put your pitchfork down.

I know what you mean but I don't think it is quite that clear and in this case useful to remind people of the other meanings. If nothing else to think about it even if they reject them the thinking is good.

If that's how you chose to interpret it, nearly every bible sold is guilty of it since most have indexes or other addendums

Trump, cashing in on licensing. Like the $100K watches, where proceeds don't quite go to funding his campaign. They money goes pretty much directly to his pocket. He loves the poorly educated!

Isn't it ironic that bibles sold to this agency have the documents stating there is separation of church and state included in the book?

OH WOW! That's such a weird coincidence! Imagine the odds of that! /s

Of course they did. The thing is the way the law is written violates the Constitution by promoting an ideologically-loaded, outdated translation of the Bible used by more socially extreme groups.

  • NRSV(UE) is the gold standard nowadays.
  • Leather cover? Why? What's the point?
  • The Founding Documents to the United States do not belong in a Bible. Not everything has to be tarnished with crass "Patriotic" grift.
  • Just the Bill of Rights? The Amendments to the Constitution are legally part of the Constitution. What are they not included? Is there something in those Amendments they don't feel is appropriate?
  • This Bible has consistent poor reviews on Youtube. A number of Bible collectors, theologians, pastors, etc have panned this book for being cheaply and poorly made. It has poor print quality, it's pages stick together, are thin, and rip easy.

It should be obvious to anyone this is an ideological grift and it is criminal graft too. These criminals need to be thrown in prison for this.

if legislation was to be passed against this book, would it be called the "bye bible bill"?

Pretty clear they wrote the requirement to fit some recently hacked up version as opposed to the one hacked up by king james.

The article states they hacked it up 2900 times at least before this one. 30k different Christian sects in the U.S. last I knew

I'm sure its more than that. The really perverse thing about that is all the people that are super sure their particular flavor is right and everyone else is wrong. Its the old thing about what is a cult and what is a religion? A cult is a small unpopular religion and a religion is a large popular cult.

Why would any school want a Bible that doesn't also have the Declaration and Constitution? It's a perfectly logical requirement, and it's not Trump's fault so few others are making them.

Did you drop this: /s

No, because the sarcasm was so obvious that a doorstop would get it.

When at least 30% of people would post that without any sarcasm intended it is absolutely needed. Sorry bud, but that is the world we're living in now.

Some similarly stupid, yes. But different enough to detect they weren't being ironic.

So do these bibles omit all of the text and stories in the normal Bible that would qualify them for book bannings?

To be fair, the average readers just interpret the word as is convenient to their own ends, so...