499
submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

State’s bid cites requirements that $60 Trump-endorsed God Bless the USA Bible appears to be tailor-made to meet

Oklahoma’s top education official is seeking to buy 55,000 Bibles for public schools and specifying that each copy contain the Declaration of Independence and US constitution, which are not commonly found in Bibles but are included in one endorsed by former president Donald Trump.

The request is part of Republican state superintendent Ryan Walters’ ongoing efforts to require Bibles in every classroom, which has been met with resistance by some of Oklahoma’s largest school districts.

Walters is seeking to spend $3m in state funds for Bibles that fit a certain criteria, including that the pages are supplemented with US historical materials. The Bibles must also be “bound in leather or leather-like material for durability”, according to state bidding documents posted this week.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 87 points 1 month ago

it doesn't matter how the books are printed or bound....

THIS is the problem:

spend $3m in state funds for Bibles

[-] explore_broaden@midwest.social 56 points 1 month ago

The point is the requirements have been tailored so that they aren’t just buying bibles for schools (already bad), but their only option meeting the requirements will be the Trump one.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

The grift that keeps on grifting

[-] undercrust@lemmy.ca 77 points 1 month ago

What a weird, sad, loser Ryan Walters is.

Man the United States really IS a shithole third world now.

[-] joekar1990@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago

The 3rd world country with a Gucci belt*

[-] undercrust@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 month ago

*knockoff Gucci belt from Temu

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 70 points 1 month ago

Okay not Christian but isn't this heresy?

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 35 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

At this point in history ... the only legimate way to be a Christian is to just say you're one. It's about the only criteria anyone goes by now.

It used to mean something a hundred years ago ... it doesn't mean much any more

[-] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago

It’s about the only criteria anyone goes by now

as opposed to what?

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 19 points 1 month ago

As opposed to actually practicing being kind to your neighbor. Stuff like that.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Invading jerusalem, burning witches, stuff like that.

:-)

[-] AnxiousOtter@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Deus vult intensifies.

[-] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago

pretty sure there have always been, probably always will be, people who say "i'm christian" just because that's what they're supposed to say.

"i'm christian" has literally never made someone a good person just because they slapped that label on themself. if anything, if someone is one of those "i'd be a bad person if not for religion," then that person is still not a good person

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] owsei@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago

actually believing in the religion's stuff

[-] Evotech@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

You can't just say you are Jewish. The Jewish community well not accept that.

Used to be kinda like that

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You can’t just say you are Jewish. The Jewish community well not accept that.

That highly depends on the Jewish community. There isn't just one.

Plenty of ultra-Orthodox Jews would say I'm not Jewish despite being born to two Jewish parents, having a Bar Mitzvah, etc. because I don't fit into their weird little mold.

On the other hand, at the temple my mom goes to, they wouldn't care who your parents are. If you say you're Jewish and go through the motions, they'll accept you as Jewish.

On top of that, there are Jews who would say I'm not a Jew because I'm an atheist and others, like myself, who consider it an ethnicity as well as a religion and argue that if those Jews are right, Larry David isn't Jewish either. Neither are Billy Crystal, William Shatner, Sarah Silverman, and so many other people that Jews often claim as their own.

I've been called an antisemite by Jews that support Israel when they find out I don't. That's how messed up it all is.

[-] sushibowl@feddit.nl 7 points 1 month ago

Not a US citizen either but isn't this a first amendment violation?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

the source material is all created and editted by men under orders from the king of england at the time. inasmuch as it was a royal effort i suppose it could be considered heretical but not in an ecclesiastical sense

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 59 points 1 month ago

I called it once they announced the bible thing lmao:

https://sh.itjust.works/comment/14286107

It's such a transparent grift I just can't.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

Wait until you hear about the $100k concepts of a watch they're selling worldwide for cash OR bitcoin. It's basically tailor made to allow foreign agents to send money to trump anonymously.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

I saw the ad but missed a piece about bitcoin. Probably because I was overwhelmed with their worse-than-parody looks and presentation.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

The more you look into it the better it gets. It's basically a drop ship scam run out of a random office in Wyoming (? IIRC) where the only other registered business sells honey to treat erectile dysfunction.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

And from what I've read by people who really know watches, they're pieces of shit too.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

I mean, yeah, it's a drop ship front designed to be a money laundering pipe for foreign agents to send money to a Trump business. The product doesn't actually matter.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Kalkaline@leminal.space 50 points 1 month ago

He does know that Trump isn't going to pay him the kickback promised for this deal, right?

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Well, he's Trump. He's like the anti-Lannister. A Trump never pays his debts.

[-] kobra@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago

Well it’s a cult, so I doubt any kickback was promised.

[-] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago

Misappropriating funds to buy religious texts for a public school while insisting that the text includes the constitution that makes it misappropriation in the first place is some next level bullshit

[-] Schadrach 13 points 1 month ago

...and doing it with requirements that funnel state education funds to a political candidate is just...chef's kiss

I know I shouldn't be but I'm just kind of astonished.

I get that some states are predominantly red voters, but how many people must be involved in this process, and among them not a single person with a shred of integrity. I'm a lefty, but I'd like to think that if I was in a position to have any input into a process like this, I'm pretty sure I would be screaming blue bloody murder, even if the money was going to my own preferred party.

It's just so embarrassingly obviously corrupt. I would be genuinely ashamed to be involved, even if my involvement was simply not saying anything.

[-] madcaesar@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

The problem is that you are not involved. Most normal honest people want nothing to do with politics, so we are run by corrupt pieces of shit.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com 26 points 1 month ago

The shipments of the Koran and Torah are on the way too, right?

[-] name_NULL111653@pawb.social 16 points 1 month ago

And the Satanic Bible of course. And Nietzsche for the atheist philosophers, prose and poetic eddas for us heathens, some text or another for Wicca, and a Latin edition of Ars Goetia... right? No? Then I smell religious favoritism worthy of the supreme court.

[-] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I heard it has a copy of the constitution/bill of rights in it, missing amendments 11 - 17, because a lot of those prevent his coup, and allow for his prosecution.

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago

Those morons probably get the Ten Commandments and the Amendments confused if they're missing that many.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

Walters in June ordered public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades five through 12. The bidding documents also specify that the Bibles include both the Old Testament and New Testament, the Pledge of Allegiance and the Bill of Rights.

Seems like it's time to publish an annotated Bible that meets the criteria and costs much less than Trump's bible.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 8 points 1 month ago

They thought of that and don't allow any other commentary in the book, otherwise I could see a great opportunity for the satanic temple to get into book publishing.

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Hmm, going to need to review the bidding documents, but I'm sure we can find an opportunity to make him regret being so specific.

Edit: After reading the bidding documents, there's a number of opportunities for malicious compliance. They don't specify a size, a language, or anything more than the contents. So it might be tempting to make one that's floormat sized or printed in a font that fits on a single page of water-soluble paper bound in leatherette.

But I think the better thing would just be to print the books as requested. Make a KJV Bible with the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and whatever other bullshit they asked for, get it printed exactly to spec, and do it for a fraction of the cost of the Trump bible. It won't coat $55 to produce them, and then Oklahoma won't be able to justify spending a premium to buy from Trump.

Then donate all of the money to actual education programs.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, undercutting in price is probably the best approach. If they still pick Trump's book there's probably legal options.

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Exactly. We know this is transparent corruption, but they're going to get away with it because it's a garbage state nobody cares about. But it's still America.

[-] LillyPip@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 month ago

Every single word of this is horribly disappointing. Even words like ‘the’ and ‘an’ are ashamed to be associated with this story. Jesus wept.

[-] hate2bme@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago
[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Thank god no kids are getting fed at school with that money!

-Republicans, presumably

[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

55k would make one helluva beautiful bonfire

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] 5opn0o30@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

This comes out to $55/book. Outrageous!

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Quick, someone run a Kickstarter for leatherette bound "Bibles" that meet the criteria and unfold into a doormat

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
499 points (97.2% liked)

News

23305 readers
2293 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS