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#AlexHenderson, #AlterNet, #Christians, #ForcedReligion, #Government Fraud, #leilaworldblog, #leilaworldblog1, #MisappropriationOfFunds, #Oklahoma, #ReligionInPublicSchool, #RyanWalters, #Schools, #smartnews, #TrumpBible, Trump
The inspiration for this blog piece was from a story I read in the SmartNews app, by AlterNet, written by Alex Henderson today.
In deep red Oklahoma — a state that Donald Trump carried by 33 percent in the 2020 presidential election — Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters has ordered, on June 27, that all public schools must have Bibles in classrooms for Grades 5-12.
Since the order was handed down, Oklahoma public schools have been scrambling to make sure they have Bibles on hand. And according to The Oklahoman, the Bible that mostly easily fits Walters’ requirement is the “Trump Bible.”
The “Trump Bible” is singer Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA Bible,” which Trump has endorsed and been making money from. Greenwood’s “Trump Bible” sells for $60 each online, and Trump has been receiving fees for his endorsement. And the cost to Oklahoma could come out to $3.3 million or more.
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Oklahoman reporters Jennifer Palmer, Paul Monies and Heather Warlick note that when bids opened for a contract to supply 55,000 Bibles to the Oklahoma Department of Education, there were very specific criteria.
“According to the bid documents,” the journalists explain, “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.”
Palmer, Monies and Warlick continue, “A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2900 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.”
Oklahoma’s relationship with the “Trump Bible” is receiving a lot of discussion on X, formerly Twitter.
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The Washington Post’s Megan McArdle tweeted, “This is beyond gross — not just the grift, but the fact that A GOVERNMENT INSTITUTION is requiring A RELIGIOUS BOOK come bedecked with our founding documents, which offends me as both an American and a Christian. A violation of the separation of church and state in spirit, if not in law.”
X user @PedagogicalMess posted, “I’m a patriot and devout Christian. But funneling state funds to a political campaign in the name of religion is exactly why Christ overturned the tables in the temple. Cut this nonsense out, people.”
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Read The Oklahoman’s full report at this link.
Absolutely PERVERSE and BLASMEPHMOUS!!! How is this even legal????? Isn’t against seperation of Religion and State? Not only that, but blatant discrimination? I mean if you carry the Bible, you should have the Torah, and every other religious book including the Qur’an. And what about the Agnostic and Athiest? Are they planning on shoving Christianity as interpreted BY THEM, not even Traditional Christianity or Original Christianity, as in a King James Bible, or Geneva Bible (pre King James), New American Standard Bible (A literal translation from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. It’s similar to the King James Version, but uses modern English for words that have changed meaning or fallen out of use.), New International Version – NIV (A translation of the Bible into contemporary English.), The Sacred Name Bible (A translation that uses the Hebraic forms of God’s name in both the Old and New Testaments.), The Latin Vulgate (A translation that was the dominant version in Western Christianity during the Middle Ages.).
Other Bible translations include: The Message, Amplified Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), The New Living Translation (NLT), and The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
No single English translation is a perfect representation of the original biblical languages. This is because the ancient languages of the Bible don’t work like English, and a word in Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic might not have an exact English equivalent.
So, all of those Bibles have one very strong common denominator they are based on the original BIBLE.
The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is the only one that has had a slight modification. On of which I am certain Trump and his misogynist cronnies would not approve.
The NRSV was a major revision of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible. It was created to be a contemporary English translation that was as literal as possible while also being free to convey accuracy and clarity from the original ancient languages. The NRSV was also the first major version of the Bible to use gender-neutral language.
In 2021, the NRSV was updated to the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue). The NRSVue was informed by the study of hundreds of ancient manuscripts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls.
It is absolutely appaling that Trump and his cronnies are literally trying to peddle or imp God merch for the benefit of his campaign. Absolutely disgusting.
All of THIS while banning books that reflect our society, our history, our lives. Instead pimping a book barely different than a Church of Scientology book (a glorified cult), written as reinterpreted by THEIR values, not God’s!!!
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