Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters is pushing to put more Bibles in the classroom, but which ones?
A report from from The Oklahoman confirmed that Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters is pushing to put more Bibles in the classroom, but it appears the bid might have been rigged to benefit Donald Trump.
The Oklahoma Department of Education opened bids this past week to vendors to supply the Department with about 55,000 new Bibles to place in the public schools system.
According to The Oklahoman, the requirements for the vendors include:
"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."
Is it a coincidence that few Bibles meet those requirements? The Bible endorsed by Trump, however, does. Trump receives fees for endorsing musician Lee Greenwood's God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, which has been endorsed by Trump., and those Bibles likely would meet Oklahoma's requirements.
It violates the first amendment establishment clause they can't privilege Christianity over other religions before even getting to the selection criteria obviously only one grifter can meet, but with the federal courts disproportionally filled by theocrats the separation remains very threatened.
It also violates collusion laws and also collusion clauses in their own terms found at https://sde.ok.gov/ev00000555
Kinda odd that they chose to adbicate any fiduciary responsibility in order to prefer a book with an extremely specific physical design on the basis of durability, despite that design being so specific that it costs >10 times more than less specifically-designed books, when the only people who can acquiesce to such a request are political figures of the same affiliation
The requirements literally violate church/state seperation because it requires a specific version of the Bible that also has to contain things like the constitution and declaration of independence.
No one makes a bible like that because it doesn't make any sense.
The dumbest thing about this is, doesn't the Trump bible only contain the parts of the constitution that they like, and omit others? So if the requirement is that it contains "the Constitution", does the Trump bible even really qualify?
The requirements literally violate church/state seperation because it requires a specific version of the Bible that also has to contain things like the constitution and declaration of independence.
This is interesting though because if the religion is okay to incorporate those elements, then ... it's only an issue if the religion doesn't want interference from the State, but the State tries pushing it anyways.
No one makes a bible like that because it doesn’t make any sense.
Only one fits the criteria as per the article. Basically the requirements were developed so only orange voldemort's bible would fit. (His is also interesting because in addition to mixing church/state, politics is getting added into mix too - whereas we often see things like the Hatch Act - https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/13/politics/what-is-the-hatch-act/index.html - designed to try and keep them separate.)
and the more they shove this stuff into the curriculum, the dumber the people get. the dumber the people get, the more likely we are to sleepwalk into the next global catastrophe. the entire future of the world seems to hinge on what the people who are alive now do. so what do we do?
“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.”
I'm torn. If our country ever goes back to normal, I'd love to be able to show my grandkids a Trump Bible 50 years from now. I like to think that they'd be shocked by the audacity of it - by the fact that a guy peddled something so blasphemous and still locked up the religious vote. But I know Trump is probably getting royalties on the sale, so I guess they'll just have to take my word for it.
Honestly, I think trump paraphernalia 50 years from now is going to have an underground ultra-wealthy cult-like following. Rich shitheads are going to collect that shit the same way they collect nazi shit now. I wouldn't pay full price, but if you can find some trump shit in good condition at goodwill or an estate sale, you might think about snatching it up and throwing it in a safe for a few decades, assuming you don't have a problem with facilitating some affluent fuckers fascism fetish.
must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights;
What? I can understand if it was the Christian Creeds, but what does this have to do with the Bible? Also, the King James version is a bit unwieldy to children. Why not a list of approved translations? And why leather bound?
Doesn't the bible trump endorsed only have a portion of the bill or rights? The requirement say constitution and bill of rights. The way I read trump endorsed bible does not meet the requirement.
It has the bill of rights but not all constitutional amendments. Among other things, in Trumps bible, slavery is still legal and women can't vote, just the way they want it.