Here's the first lesson:
Negativland - The Gun And The Bible
"The gun and the bible carved this nation out of the wilderness"
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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Religion is thriving in the USA in a way that it simply isn't in the UK and similar countries where religious education in schools has been compulsory for centuries.
In handing Bible teaching from parents to schools, where it will be taught by poorly paid and demotivated teachers, Oklahoma will make the primary source of information about religion people who have no particular drive for the children to become "believers".
I'm not sure what they think this will achieve, but I'm pretty sure it won't achieve more churchgoers.
Maybe they've figured out how little conservatism agrees with what Jesus actually says and want to wean the country off Christianity before people figure it out. This is a strange and slow way of going about that and a very ineffective way of manufacturing more Republican voters, I think.
Then again, this is the party that gave the worst advice about covid, resulting in a much higher death rate for Republicans than Democrats, so they have form for stupidly shooting themselves in the foot.
Can someone PLEASE shoot up one of these Classes so I can PRETEND to Care about the Constitution Again?
Is this being challenged in court?
Guideline unclear, no my dick is stuck in a bible
“The Bible is indispensable in understanding the development of Western civilization and American history. To ensure our students are equipped to understand and contextualize our nation, its culture, and its founding, every student in Oklahoma will be taught the Bible in its historical, cultural, and literary context.”
We learned this in elementary school. We learned that the colonies were, in large part, established as a way to escape religious oppression and persecution by The Church of England. One of the most important points of this country is to be free to practice any religion you wish.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of state-church watchdog group Freedom From Religion Foundation, said the guidelines are unconstitutional.
I'm not so sure. The First Amendment stipulates that Congress shall not establish a religion. States are free to do as they wish. This is an Oklahoma matter and I hope they figure out that this guy and the rest of his oppressive cult are full of bullshit.
Actually, I would support our public education covering Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and other non-Abrahamic religions in an honest historical manner. I learned more about the world and human history in my college art classes which were heavily influenced be religious paintings. Human history has been immensely influenced by religion. It shouldn't be ignored.
There's a lot of misinformation and a lot of cultists out there lying to everyone for power and glory. American children should be well educated. Our public schools should have higher standards. Our teachers should be paid more and better educated themselves. The conservative push towards private and (publicly subsidized) charter schools is detrimental to the future of our nation as a whole.
These cult leaders are an insult to our ancestors and our founding fathers and mothers. I think most people would agree that being religious isn't inherently bad. But forcing others to do what you 'believe' to be true aligns you more with the Devil than with Jesus.
I'm not so sure. The First Amendment stipulates that Congress shall not establish a religion. States are free to do as they wish. This is an Oklahoma matter and I hope they figure out that this guy and the rest of his oppressive cult are full of bullshit.
The Fourteenth Amendment extends the prohibitions to the States.
Which part? Do you have any case law to reference?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution?wprov=sfla1
Literally most of the cases you've ever heard of.
Uh, what? How does this apply? Can you use your words, please?
From the Wikipedia link:
The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without a fair procedure. The Supreme Court has ruled that this clause makes most of the Bill of Rights as applicable to the states as it is to the federal government, as well as to recognize substantive and procedural requirements that state laws must satisfy.
It's not straightforward from reading the amendment, so you have to look at Supreme Court rulings to see how it has been interpreted.
The tenth amendment says,
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Given the context, it’s reasonable to assume the Supreme Court (especially today’s court) would hold that the first amendment is specific about Congress not establishing religion and therefor is open to interpretation by the states.
~~Unless you have a specific case law regarding the application of the first amendment to state legislation regarding religion, I’m not seeing how The Due Process law is relevant.~~
I really want to know so I’ve ’done my own research’.
Here’s the closest cases I could find. It seems reasonable here that the Supreme Court has historically ruled in a way that specifically objects to Oklahoma’s legislation. I’m convinced that you’ve offered relevant material yet I’m still 50/50 on the matter with today’s Supreme Court. If Thomas were off the bench, I could see it ruled otherwise.
Carson v. Makin (2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_v._Makin
The case centered on the limits of school vouchers offered by the state of Maine, which had disallowed the use of vouchers to pay for religious-based private schools. In a 6–3 decision the Court ruled that Maine's restrictions on vouchers violated the Free Exercise Clause, as they discriminated against religious-backed private schools. The minority opinions argued that the decision worked against the long-standing principle of the separation of church and state, since state governments would now be required to fund religious institutions..
[Roberts] wrote that the Maine legislature excluded "private religious schools from those eligible to receive such funds" and that such exclusion separates of church and state more than intended under the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. He wrote that, on the basis of Zelman, "a benefit program under which private citizens 'direct government aid to religious schools wholly as a result of their own genuine and independent private choice' does not offend the Establishment Clause."
Zelman v Simmons-Harris (2001)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelman_v._Simmons-Harris
The lawsuit was initiated when a group of Ohio taxpayers filed an action against Susan Zelman, the superintendent of public education in Ohio, arguing that the program violated the Establishment Clause. Simmons-Harris, along with other residents of the Cleveland area, argued that the government "could not pay tuition for students to attend religious school".
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the majority opinion, which held that the school voucher program was not in violation of the Establishment Clause. The ruling also determined that government support for religion is constitutional if it does not occur de jure but de facto, and if the use of religious facilities is neither specified nor encouraged. Cleveland's program was declared to be religiously neutral and to be giving parents the benefit of true private choice.
The amendment limits the actions of all state and local officials and also those acting on behalf of such officials.
The only proper application of the bible. Is upside the head of anyone trying to push it on someone else.
Best scene of the film.
"OK kids, today we're going to go over how the Bible was used to justify slavery in the early colonies, continuing on until the civil war. Then we're going to cover how that was the reason why the Southern Baptist Church was founded..."
Yep. They want to know how the Bible influenced Western culture. So I assume that they will be covering everything from witch burnings to Father Coughlin supporting Hitler on national radio.
That dude is a complete piece of shit. I live in Oklahoma. I hate his fucking face. The Bible is not “history.” It a fictional document. Teach it as literature if you want, but they will likely be presenting the material as fact.
Worst, it's revisionist pseudohistory mixed with fiction and delusion. Well there is some archaeological evidence that corroborates some of the more grounded contents, and some of it is relevant to ancient culture and genealogy, it's all mixed up with superstitious nonsense, magic, justifications for what we would now consider crimes against humanity, hyperbole, hallucinations, and code used to bad mouth authorities without getting executed. That last part is the entirety of the Book of Revelation.
It is possible to sift some facts out of it, but it's far easier to either take it at face value, or cherry pick the parts you like. That's what they do with it today, and honestly I would just do anything to make the entire concept of religion just evaporate from human consciousness.
Don't teach it as anything to fucking fifth graders though. That is just not appropriate at that reading level.
But apparently it is in Oklahoma now.
I would say nearing the end of high school at the earliest if you want to be able to teach the Bible as literature. It might even not be grade school appropriate at all and should just be taught on the college level.
After all, unless you're teaching it dishonestly, you'll want to cover translation issues, which would require a lot of reading and analysis.
Gosh these Republicans can never resist an opportunity to groom children.
"So you see class, Samson was actually an allegory reframing the collapse of a Philistinian Great Hall as a fairy tale that justifies a schizophrenic's mass murder of persecutors."
I can work with this.
Only for those children who have been Washed In The Blood™ of the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted Him as their one true savior.
Heathen children, blasphemers, and oh yes the Jews will be consigned to the pit of hellfire to anguish in torment for all eternity. As the Bible clearly teaches. Probably.