Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, 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.

A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 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. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    Forcing your State to buy 55000 Bibles from ONLY Trump is PROOF that DEMOCRATS are the Swamp!

    • TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Yep! That’s why they’re counting on, throwing enough dollars at the conservative judges that they will let this theocratic bullshit stand.

      Fuck them and anyone who supports their religion

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      1 month ago

      It’s probably purposely designed to create a court case so the Supreme Court can hollow out that principle.

      • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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        1 month ago

        I will give credit to Republicans on this. They spent decades playing thre ong game with the judiciary. Now, that Republicans achieve their goal. They are now engineering facts to get cases to SCOTUS. The only way to play, is don’t appeal cases. Leave the cases at the trial level or first level appeal.

        Fix the judiciary, then start taking these fucks all the to top.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      It’s not mixing the two, it’s a founding document of our nation, and what our society is based on. /probably

      As someone who is at least a bit religious, get that blasphemy out of the Bible, don’t allow that blasphemer to profit off religion, and whatever you do, get such blasphemy out of the school. Being the state with the 49th best education is not a good thing, nor is aspiring to 50th

  • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    This is the perfect job for the satanic temple.

    The bible, complete with all American founders documents : brought to you by satan.

    • eodur@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I so want them to do this. Big ol baphomet right on the cover, and put the TST tenets on the first page. If they undercut the Trump bible aren’t they kind of obligated to go with the cheaper option?

  • pseudo@jlai.lu
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    1 month ago

    Bible […] must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights

    I’m sorry? Why would people mixed (modern) political text to their religious ones? Aren’t people buying bibles suppose to care about their religion?

  • Rob@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Why are they putting bibles in classrooms in the first place? Did they repeal the First Amendment?

    • kyle@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Apparently, the State Superintendent gets to decide what gets taught in classrooms, and how it gets taught is left up to individual school districts. But it’s fully within his right because no “commentary” is allowed around the Bible, just how important it was to America’s history.

      Why that requires a physical copy that’s leather bound, I have no idea. Nor why the money has to come from the fucking payroll budget.

      Oklahoma is ranked 49th in education, yet this is what we’re spending money on? Seriously?

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      The first amendment doesn’t apply to Christian evangelism.

      According to SCOTUS at any rate.

    • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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      The Bible is really important for understanding western society and it’s history. It has a place in the classroom.

      I’m sure that was not the motivation behind that law but it’s true.

      • Entropywins@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        There are history books that can contextually bring our students up to speed on what religious texts drove certain events/societies.

      • hr_@lemmy.world
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        You’re not wrong but, thankfully, studying history and teaching the impact of things doesn’t require the things to physically be in the room.

      • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        It might fit into history if it hadn’t been changed and edited, sections omitted, additions made, for the entire time it existed. It was only the printing press that allowed us to have true copies for the masses.

        It surely has a place in history, but not for psychology or sociology. In my opinion there is some value educationally but its very limited. There are even denominations that exclude books or add them, so it depends which religion you consider to be the “main” one.

        To have a truly nuanced class about it, would have to be in college I would think.

        • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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          28 days ago

          It has a place in history because the last thousand years of Western civilization have been directly influenced by it

          • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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            28 days ago

            I just don’t know how much you could go into it in grade school. They tend to leave out the bad stuff the US does until you go to college.

    • 1024_Kibibytes@lemm.ee
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      Some denominations do believe that only the KJV is the correct English translation. Many of those people do not understand what the words actually mean. They interpret the text very narrowly and frequently are told by others what interpretation is correct.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Which the whole symbolism of the temple veil being torn when Jesus carked on the cross was meant to mean there was no need for anyone (the clergy) to do that or to intercede.

      • ArtVandelay@lemmy.world
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        “If the King James version was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me”.

        I live in the shithole south, and I have heard this unironically on multiple occasions. Please send help. And education.

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        That’s insane, because the KJV is objectively a bad translation. I’m not even Christian anymore and it still annoys me how popular it is.

    • milkisklim@lemm.ee
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      It’s public domain so they don’t have to pay for the copyright of a modern translation.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      Sure along with ever other translation I can find. I prefer the geneva translation but that is hard to find so I often end up with the king james when I need a printed copy. for those not familar, the good parts of king james is where they took the geneva and updated to modern english - this should tell you something about my tastes.

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    if that doesnt convince you that religion is made up on the spot for conniving convenience, nothing will

    • ArtVandelay@lemmy.world
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      “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.” -Matthew 21:13

      To be clear, I don’t believe in fairy tales, but they clearly don’t either.

      • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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        I like to read the biblical texts as texts you have to interpret. Basically like fairytales and fables are in versions that aren’t from the brothers Grimm and especially Disney - they often were used to carry points that wouldn’t have been tolerated by authority if they hadn’t been covered like that, or simply to tell about some aspects of life.

        When reading it like this the Bible is an extremely interesting book, and I’m saying that as an atheist.

        • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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          Its more interesting once you find out how many things were changed over the years. The why it was changed is the most curious part. Was it a tired scribe who skipped a passage, completely omitting it? Was it intentionally rewritten by someone to “clarify” its intent?

          There are some good papers and presentations recorded online if you are interested.

  • BrokenGlepnir@lemmy.world
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    With the 3 million they would save buying the cheaper bibles(something they shouldn’t be doing either) they could wash a lot of men’s feet. They could be teaching all these students how to fish. That is their job after all.

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    For fuck’s sake in ten years we’re going to hear kids tell us the Constitution was given to us by Jesus.