this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2024
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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.


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[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 121 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This feels so blatantly illegal. This isn't surprising in the slightest.

Inb4 No one will be punished and nothing is changed.

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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.

[–] _bcron@midwest.social 6 points 1 month ago

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

[–] dubious@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

so what do we do?

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 36 points 1 month ago

Blatantly illegal appears to be all the rage these days.

[–] WaxiestSteam69@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I worked at a major public university for 14 years during the late 90s / early 00s. This happens more than people realize.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I believe you. It doesn't make it right, and I wish we could do something. Justice feels fairly hopeless at this point

[–] dubious@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

it's not. at any point, if enough people band together, we can make anything happen, with or without the government's support. we are looking down the barrel of global catastrophe. at some point, we have to do something.

[–] _bcron_@lemmy.world 70 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Separation of church and state concerns aside, much less expensive Bibles are readily available. Paperback versions of the New King James Version are available online for $2.99 each, less than 5% of what the Trump-endorsed Bible would cost.

Conservatives, everyone. Don't worry, a bunch of people will sue due to the anticompetitive and nonsensical nature of requirements and waste even more taxpayer money.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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.

[–] _bcron_@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

You can buy a 5 dollar bible and just stuff them in as inserts. I recommend you place a bid lol

https://sde.ok.gov/ev00000555

Edit: this an ambulance chaser's and an opportunistic troll's wet dream

[–] Spezi 6 points 1 month ago

Nowhere does it say that it should only contain the listed requirements. If you are the lowest bidder, I‘m sure you can throw in a few bonus pages about the importance of the right to choose, equality, other religions and much more. The possibilities are endless.

[–] WaxiestSteam69@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There are plenty of E-Bibles (pardon my terrible term) available on the Internet for free since many translations are in the public domain. Edit: All of the other stuff is available via webpages, multiple e-book formats, and on webpages. Again, it's all public domain.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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?

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I guess that's the reason for the nonsensical wording "U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights," since it incorrectly attempts to imply that all the Amendments are anything other than an integral part of the Constitution itself to begin with.

[–] dubious@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

stop trying to make sense of it. logic fails on the average conservative. you have to realize that there is no reasoning with them. that's the first step. once you do, you can then begin to ask yourself, "what do we do to stop them?"

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.)

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In a 6-3 ruling, SCROTUS will probably allow it by saying that the Trump Bible is the most godly bible since it was blessed by god himself

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago
[–] ef9357@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Religion (ANY religion) is bad, but religion in schools is barbaric.

[–] dubious@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

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?

[–] Freefall@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago

The answer is yes.

[–] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 19 points 1 month ago

I'm GLAD my Taxdollars are going to THIS and NOT Feeding Starving Children!

[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

“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.”

So not even a bible then.

[–] Tyrangle@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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.

[–] WaxiestSteam69@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Kind of like in "The Walking Dead" comics when Carl is telling his children about all of the events of the past?

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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?

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Because the orange turd’s bible is the only version that fits that description.

It was designed that way.

The point was to send trump a bribe.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 3 points 1 month ago
[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It would be fun to get ahold of these bibles before distribution, so we could highlight all the best stories. Like when the daughters of Lot decided to get their dad drunk and have sex with him, or when a prostitute was said to lust after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse.

[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Or when God aborts the baby.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 0 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Numbers 5: 11-31…. Not much is said but a recipe to perform abortions is given

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[–] dubious@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

it won't change their minds.

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I’m not expecting to change the minds of adults. But if they’re going to force a bible into childrens’ hands, they better be prepared to address the passages in it that might even make Christians uncomfortable.

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[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 points 1 month ago

What's wrong with these passages specifically? That they're sexually explicit and not appropriate in schools?

[–] Huckledebuck@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are the naughty bits edited out?

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wonder if they left the pro-slavery bits in...

[–] Huckledebuck@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I genuinely want to know. If they can ban books with similar content then how can this not go straight to the courts?

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Rilijus feedumb!

[–] ATDA@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

And the ultimate benefit is a paultry sum to orange shit pants Lord? That's worth losing everything for? How pathetic

[–] Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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.

[–] wanderer@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

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.

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