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.

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          • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
            11·
            2 months ago

            I’m sorry but… what?

            Numbers 5:11-31 ESV

            [11] And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, [12] “Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, [13] if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act, [14] and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, [15] then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance. [16] “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord. [17] And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. [18] And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. [19] Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. [20] But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, [21] then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. [22] May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’ [23] “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. [24] And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. [25] And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar. [26] And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. [27] And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. [28] But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children. [29] “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, [30] or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. [31] The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”

            There’s absolutely no mention of abortion here- in fact, verse 28 makes it clear that she “shall be free to conceive”, so it shows that she wasn’t even pregnant to begin with. It’s clearly talking about a woman becoming infertile if she cheats on her husband, and nothing to do with an abortion or terminating a pregnancy.

            • DancingBear@midwest.social
              11·
              2 months ago

              The thighs fall away, god kills the baby, but only if she cheated seems pretty clear to me, but this is English version rewritten from other English versions of a Hebrew bible

              This is the only thing I know of that even comes close to talking about abortion in the Bible though, and it is sanctioned by god and the priest.

              If I cared that much about what god thinks I would ask myself but if you want to find other translations more close to the original Hebrew I’m interested in reading lol

              Abortion is legal in Israel, and based on just reading the headlines became so even more shortly after our supreme court overturned roe v wade in the United states

              • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
                2·
                2 months ago

                There’s zero mention of a baby being present. Verse 28 says she will be free to conceive. The Hebrew just mentions the same that her womb swells up and she becomes infertile and inflicted with heavy periods, which would make her “unclean”. Also, the State of Israel isn’t a Christian country, so I don’t see how that’s relevant.

                • DancingBear@midwest.social
                  12·
                  2 months ago

                  The Christian’s use the same book and have made shit up

                  But I’m looking online and some say this is the abortion verse but you’re right even the Jewish word for abortion is not used

                  As far as whether any verse is about abortion is interesting to me, but the Bible is ridiculous to use as any kind of modern day reference to what law should or shouldn’t be

                  • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
                    1·
                    2 months ago

                    No, the State of Israel isn’t dictated by the Old and New Testament canons of scripture. Jews also use the Talmud and fully reject Christ. You cannot claim that abortion is okay in Christianity because the state of Israel - a Jewish country - have it legalised.

      • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

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

      • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        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.

        • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
          12·
          2 months ago

          There’s nothing wrong with these passages, though - they’re just descriptions of things that happened

          • Doomsider@lemmy.world
            1·
            2 months ago

            Wow, so then we don’t need to ban any books because they are just descriptions of things that happened.

            • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
              1·
              2 months ago

              Why should we ban books?

              It’s still not comparable to political manifestos though that encourage or seek to normalise certain ideas though, like mein kampf trying to advocate for discrimination against Jews