The pastor and public school teacher running for Superintendent of Public Instruction has pushed Christian Nationalism and used his classroom to film campaign ads
The religious right has long been convinced they can solve all the country’s problems by forcing their particular brand of Christianity on the country they expect to passively submit to their rule. The staggering number of Christian tribes is a powerful counter-argument to that claim. If the preachers ever acquired the power they seem to think is their due, they would begin killing one another almost immediately over what they see as doctrinal errors.
Indeed. They can talk about their loving Jesus and the glorious afterlife from now on, but there is nothing the crave so much as power and control on this earthly plain. Power few groups would be more ill-equipped to exercise.
Even if it DID solve ANY problems (which I don't buy for a moment), it would create new problems faster than you can blink, not the least of these being RESISTANCE!
Will Taylor include lessons on what happened to his ancestors because good white Christians decided they needed free labor to work in the fields as slaves? The ancestors who were kidnapped and brought to this country against their will? Sounds like a violation of the commandment(s) against coveting and stealing.
I’m always skeptical of folks claiming the title of Dr without citing their field or degree-granting institution. His apparently received his DDiv from the Andersonville Theological Seminary in Camilla GA which is a unaccredited nondenominational school not listed as recognized by reputable organizations.
The Little Axe School District should revisit his credentials for teaching.
Once again: Judeo-Christian is merely an xtian invention. Jews look at that phrase and just laugh. The Jewish messiah (strictly human) in no way resembles the supposedly 'divine' xtian one. To Jews, any man who calls himself God is a liar.
Teach THAT inconvenient factoid, Taylor. I dare you.
Do you think Christian Nationalists will ban even the most benign symbols in their classroom (like the Puritans!) ?? I'm asking this as a LEGIMITATE possibility because so many Christians see other people's religions as being 'pagan Gods'/ 'demons'/ etc. It's why they hate NASA!
Because, by that logic, if you were to follow the Bible to that extreme (the most fundamentalist extreme!), there would be so many symbols, cultural mythology, religions, etc that should be banned! Like I seriously wonder what kind of world they wanna enculture their kids in.....
I know this isn't exactly what you mean, but there was already a case of a teacher being forced to remove a sign saying, "Everyone is welcome here."
Their reasoning was a bit unexpected, and totally bizarre. Basically, the inclusion of the word "everyone" indicated an ideology in conflict with that of Trump, as Trump would NEVER promote inclusivity. (And BECAUSE it conflicted with Trump, not specifically due to the message, it had to come down.) There are countless ways this could be used to answer every inane request from those wishing to display their "closeness" to the regime. (or knowledge of "exactly what Gawd wants") with just a little modification. After all, who knows more about satisfying ego than those near the Oval Office?
I think there is NOTHING these monsters won't do in the name of power. If "God" is that name, then that is the name they will utilize.
And to think I once looked forward to a world where enemies were easier to spot....
(Sorry, Rose, I'm moving slow, including the thing I laughingly call a brain.)
All because of that Stupid Idiot and his rancid, racist views is completely NO reason to take down that harmless banner. There's nothing wrong with it at all! Period! Stupid Idiot can take all his fragile racist fee fees and shove it up his dirty, smelly arse!
The culture wars are truly distorting what legitimately matters for the country's future! I'm always stunned by what I read on here as where I live in is NOTHING like these schools/places! It's unfortunate that my home is the exception, NOT the rule.
What you are talking about seems to be the first step towards "soft" socio-cultural balkanization within the United States, which should be very frightening since the United States has always had a common mythology it has relied upon: the country of immigrants, the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed from other lands.
It's funny this particular group of people (we are not including the small 'c' conservatives who value free speech and critical thinking over religion as these people still want to talk with people on the other side of the political aisle!) always talks about how immigrant groups coming to USA is causing a loss of American 'common culture'/'common mythology'.
But, if that is true, then what they are doing is no better!
Perhaps most baffling to me is the gazillionaires. They dig deep bunkers, primarily in New Zealand, the place calculated to be the first geographic location to recover from an apocalyptic event. (Of course, Zuck is in Hawaii, and the Walmart Kids are in (checks notes)....Arkansas.)
So clearly their plan is to populate the world with their genes when the blast doors open a million years from now.
But apparently they can't remember that NONE of them will escape bodily death within the same span as each of us will. In fact, NOTHING they do is likely to postpone their own 21st century death by more than a minor degree, as they continue with their "Bigger-Than-Lifesize" video game.
I still remember how surprised I was (remember "surprise", Rose?) when I happened to look up the National Platform for the GOP 2020 Campaign. Essentially, it was nothing more (and pretty clearly stated as such) than a nation-wide game of Follow the Leader, with no policy (beyond making Trump happy) even suggested or considered:
" The 2020 Republican Party platform: “L’etat, c’est moi”"
Actually, more fun reading about than living as "chaos non-policy".
Obviously, with ZERO actual policy (but perhaps in "two weeks"), they have to fill in the blanks with something. And knowing the GOP, it would surely be something cruel, hateful and beneficial to the super-rich.
“RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.”
No doubt that's the association meant to exist in minds of voters.
Still, I'm fairly certain there's also some deep-seated Freudian response. And "Taylor" almost seems to exist in the form of a "bite taken", as the only break in the "skin" of the apple.
"The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."
-- from "The Age of Reason"
Bet that flawless wisdom had Taylor pulling his hair out...so to speak.
I'd be willing to bet the Right Reverend Dr. James Taylor has even heard of Thomas Paine, much less read anything by him. Those living in their religion bubbles have no interest in seeing what the rest of society has to say.
I wish people could see on their own, or even acknowledge when someone else points it out to them, that if they don’t like how their schools/local/state government is working in these bright red places that the Republican Party is the source of their frustrations. Oklahoma is at the bottom of the country for education because of the Republican policies and defunding they keep voting for. The campaigns keep fighting democratic candidates and accusing them of ruining everything, I mean the whole furries are pooping in litter boxes at schools is an accusation that democratic policies put litter boxes in schools, and yet no democratic politicians are in positions in your state to enact such policies. Their boxing strawmen and shadows to distract from their own “shortcomings”. Especially in Oklahoma, and Texas, and the Bible Belt, republicans are making the policies, have been making the policies, and that is why everything is going into the toilet. Even right now federally, our entire country is in the hands of the Republicans across all branches of government, and folks are believing the lies that the democrats are ruining the country. The elections were rigged when mango Mussolini was president and lost, but not when he was elected and not in charge. It’s Biden’s fault that the gas prices are high and we are fighting in Iran and inflation reversed course and went back up after it was coming down in 2024.
This guy is likely to be elected just because he’s getting media attention, name recognition is more powerful than policies, add in the fear mongering identity politics, the morons in the Republican base will eat it up.
Campaigns for the next several elections really need to be focused on “we are in this hellscape because of the Republicans.” It might not convince the most stubborn of red voters who believe that god wants them to vote red no matter what, or those who believe the hellscape is heaven because racism, but at least they’ll know why their life is shit in the end. They won’t admit to it, but they will know.
How, exactly, does running a church qualify one to run a state's education system? The two ate very different things. Conservative churches tend to be very autocratic, with very few rules limiting the pastor's authority, as well as mostly like minded individuals involved. A state's education system is much more diverse, much less centralized, and serves a completely different function.
On top of that, this guy's penchant for pseudohistory should be enough to disqualify him, let alone the anti-vax and the religious coercion.
Uh-huh ... and the Russian Great Terror of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s was aimed to benefit Soviet citizens, too. It is eminently clear that Taylor means to be a scofflaw as regards both his campaign and how he runs his classroom. His behavior is plainly and simply INTOLERABLE, and at minimum, he should be removed from his position as a teacher.
As for his political activities, it's just sad to say that it's too late to put up a challenger to his BS.
So many ignorant narcissists desperate for attention and power... so many voters who keep supporting them instead of choosing people who are civic minded and will just do the best job they can.
The religious right has long been convinced they can solve all the country’s problems by forcing their particular brand of Christianity on the country they expect to passively submit to their rule. The staggering number of Christian tribes is a powerful counter-argument to that claim. If the preachers ever acquired the power they seem to think is their due, they would begin killing one another almost immediately over what they see as doctrinal errors.
Honestly, I DON'T believe that they think Christianity will solve ANY problems at all. What it WILL do is PUT THEM IN POWER.
And that's all that they are actually interested in doing.
Indeed. They can talk about their loving Jesus and the glorious afterlife from now on, but there is nothing the crave so much as power and control on this earthly plain. Power few groups would be more ill-equipped to exercise.
I disagree. I think they do believe that by forcing their christofascist nightmare on everyone it will solve all problems.
Even if it DID solve ANY problems (which I don't buy for a moment), it would create new problems faster than you can blink, not the least of these being RESISTANCE!
It solved the main problem: getting their hands on UNLIMITED POWER!!!
I can get behind that idea.
Religion is the antithesis of education.
Will Taylor include lessons on what happened to his ancestors because good white Christians decided they needed free labor to work in the fields as slaves? The ancestors who were kidnapped and brought to this country against their will? Sounds like a violation of the commandment(s) against coveting and stealing.
Those lessons will include bagpipe music.
Whoa! I love bagpipe music. It must be part of my Celtic heritage. (Amazing Grace playing in the background.
Sounds like you want him to teach Critical Race Theory, ya commie! 😊
I'm unqualified, yet I'd STILL do a better job than him.
Don't Axe Don't Tell.
Sweet Baby James! What a moron.
ISWYDT :)
I’m always skeptical of folks claiming the title of Dr without citing their field or degree-granting institution. His apparently received his DDiv from the Andersonville Theological Seminary in Camilla GA which is a unaccredited nondenominational school not listed as recognized by reputable organizations.
The Little Axe School District should revisit his credentials for teaching.
Dr. Demento is more of a doctor than this deluded fool is.
Dr. Pepper.
Dr. J.
The Doctor.
Dr. Suess.
Dr. Sasquatch which I'm wearing right now.
Dr. Scholl’s, too?
B.A. In Ministry and Bible- Manhattan Christian College
M.A. in Ministry and Bible--Andersonville Theological Seminary
Doctorate of Ministry and Bible--Andersonville Theological Seminary
Nothing in there about teaching anything real.
In my school district teachers with doctorates get paid more than teachers without doctorates.
I don't fear hell because I survived 9 years in Oklahoma.
Less than 9 hours, and I'm scarred for life. : )
Let him teach his fantasies in Sunday school and private xtian schools. Stay the hell away from public education.
Once again: Judeo-Christian is merely an xtian invention. Jews look at that phrase and just laugh. The Jewish messiah (strictly human) in no way resembles the supposedly 'divine' xtian one. To Jews, any man who calls himself God is a liar.
Teach THAT inconvenient factoid, Taylor. I dare you.
What's with the apple in Taylor's logo?
Is he the snake in the Garden of Eden?
Or worse?
Do you think Christian Nationalists will ban even the most benign symbols in their classroom (like the Puritans!) ?? I'm asking this as a LEGIMITATE possibility because so many Christians see other people's religions as being 'pagan Gods'/ 'demons'/ etc. It's why they hate NASA!
Because, by that logic, if you were to follow the Bible to that extreme (the most fundamentalist extreme!), there would be so many symbols, cultural mythology, religions, etc that should be banned! Like I seriously wonder what kind of world they wanna enculture their kids in.....
Rose,
I know this isn't exactly what you mean, but there was already a case of a teacher being forced to remove a sign saying, "Everyone is welcome here."
Their reasoning was a bit unexpected, and totally bizarre. Basically, the inclusion of the word "everyone" indicated an ideology in conflict with that of Trump, as Trump would NEVER promote inclusivity. (And BECAUSE it conflicted with Trump, not specifically due to the message, it had to come down.) There are countless ways this could be used to answer every inane request from those wishing to display their "closeness" to the regime. (or knowledge of "exactly what Gawd wants") with just a little modification. After all, who knows more about satisfying ego than those near the Oval Office?
I think there is NOTHING these monsters won't do in the name of power. If "God" is that name, then that is the name they will utilize.
And to think I once looked forward to a world where enemies were easier to spot....
(Sorry, Rose, I'm moving slow, including the thing I laughingly call a brain.)
All because of that Stupid Idiot and his rancid, racist views is completely NO reason to take down that harmless banner. There's nothing wrong with it at all! Period! Stupid Idiot can take all his fragile racist fee fees and shove it up his dirty, smelly arse!
I had no idea! Thanks for letting me know.
The culture wars are truly distorting what legitimately matters for the country's future! I'm always stunned by what I read on here as where I live in is NOTHING like these schools/places! It's unfortunate that my home is the exception, NOT the rule.
What you are talking about seems to be the first step towards "soft" socio-cultural balkanization within the United States, which should be very frightening since the United States has always had a common mythology it has relied upon: the country of immigrants, the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed from other lands.
It's funny this particular group of people (we are not including the small 'c' conservatives who value free speech and critical thinking over religion as these people still want to talk with people on the other side of the political aisle!) always talks about how immigrant groups coming to USA is causing a loss of American 'common culture'/'common mythology'.
But, if that is true, then what they are doing is no better!
Rose,
Perhaps most baffling to me is the gazillionaires. They dig deep bunkers, primarily in New Zealand, the place calculated to be the first geographic location to recover from an apocalyptic event. (Of course, Zuck is in Hawaii, and the Walmart Kids are in (checks notes)....Arkansas.)
So clearly their plan is to populate the world with their genes when the blast doors open a million years from now.
But apparently they can't remember that NONE of them will escape bodily death within the same span as each of us will. In fact, NOTHING they do is likely to postpone their own 21st century death by more than a minor degree, as they continue with their "Bigger-Than-Lifesize" video game.
(I really need some...COFFEE!)
Rose,
I still remember how surprised I was (remember "surprise", Rose?) when I happened to look up the National Platform for the GOP 2020 Campaign. Essentially, it was nothing more (and pretty clearly stated as such) than a nation-wide game of Follow the Leader, with no policy (beyond making Trump happy) even suggested or considered:
" The 2020 Republican Party platform: “L’etat, c’est moi”"
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-2020-republican-party-platform-letat-cest-moi/
Actually, more fun reading about than living as "chaos non-policy".
Obviously, with ZERO actual policy (but perhaps in "two weeks"), they have to fill in the blanks with something. And knowing the GOP, it would surely be something cruel, hateful and beneficial to the super-rich.
“RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.”
....sigh...."enthusiastically"...sigh...
An apple for the teacher.
No doubt that's the association meant to exist in minds of voters.
Still, I'm fairly certain there's also some deep-seated Freudian response. And "Taylor" almost seems to exist in the form of a "bite taken", as the only break in the "skin" of the apple.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSgDAMmfZaeAB9aXuAoJNQQg0elC7wXPhWQf9aXNrIBR9fZrWP26Zwb6jw&s=10
I'll put my Masters in Underwater Basket Weaving up against his PhD in Theology any day.
"if brains were dynamite, you wouldn’t have enough to blow your hat off.” Edmund Blackadder
:D I have got to find that DVD series somewhere.
Dr? As in theology? So a fraudster with a fake degree.
Someone once said that theology is the study of NOTHING, as no gods can currently be demonstrated to exist. Anyone remember who that was?
I don't remember but it is an absolutely useless waste of time to pursue about since it is trying present mythology as reality.
Paine's full quote said:
"The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."
-- from "The Age of Reason"
Bet that flawless wisdom had Taylor pulling his hair out...so to speak.
And the full quote, which I just found on goodreads.com, goes up as the Quote of the Day tomorrow! 😁
I'd be willing to bet the Right Reverend Dr. James Taylor has even heard of Thomas Paine, much less read anything by him. Those living in their religion bubbles have no interest in seeing what the rest of society has to say.
Just seeing this. It was Thomas Paine. 🙂
I wish people could see on their own, or even acknowledge when someone else points it out to them, that if they don’t like how their schools/local/state government is working in these bright red places that the Republican Party is the source of their frustrations. Oklahoma is at the bottom of the country for education because of the Republican policies and defunding they keep voting for. The campaigns keep fighting democratic candidates and accusing them of ruining everything, I mean the whole furries are pooping in litter boxes at schools is an accusation that democratic policies put litter boxes in schools, and yet no democratic politicians are in positions in your state to enact such policies. Their boxing strawmen and shadows to distract from their own “shortcomings”. Especially in Oklahoma, and Texas, and the Bible Belt, republicans are making the policies, have been making the policies, and that is why everything is going into the toilet. Even right now federally, our entire country is in the hands of the Republicans across all branches of government, and folks are believing the lies that the democrats are ruining the country. The elections were rigged when mango Mussolini was president and lost, but not when he was elected and not in charge. It’s Biden’s fault that the gas prices are high and we are fighting in Iran and inflation reversed course and went back up after it was coming down in 2024.
This guy is likely to be elected just because he’s getting media attention, name recognition is more powerful than policies, add in the fear mongering identity politics, the morons in the Republican base will eat it up.
Campaigns for the next several elections really need to be focused on “we are in this hellscape because of the Republicans.” It might not convince the most stubborn of red voters who believe that god wants them to vote red no matter what, or those who believe the hellscape is heaven because racism, but at least they’ll know why their life is shit in the end. They won’t admit to it, but they will know.
"the Republican Party is the source of their frustrations."
Obviously Biden screwed up everything badly enough even the GOP can't fix it.
𝐻𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑠 ℎ𝑒’𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑒’𝑠 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ.
How, exactly, does running a church qualify one to run a state's education system? The two ate very different things. Conservative churches tend to be very autocratic, with very few rules limiting the pastor's authority, as well as mostly like minded individuals involved. A state's education system is much more diverse, much less centralized, and serves a completely different function.
On top of that, this guy's penchant for pseudohistory should be enough to disqualify him, let alone the anti-vax and the religious coercion.
But, it IS Oklahoma.
... 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑈.𝑆. ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦’𝑠 𝐽𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑜-𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒.
Uh-huh ... and the Russian Great Terror of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s was aimed to benefit Soviet citizens, too. It is eminently clear that Taylor means to be a scofflaw as regards both his campaign and how he runs his classroom. His behavior is plainly and simply INTOLERABLE, and at minimum, he should be removed from his position as a teacher.
As for his political activities, it's just sad to say that it's too late to put up a challenger to his BS.
[𝐶]𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑛-𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 “𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑-𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑠.”
Umm, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Japan, et al would like a word.
So many ignorant narcissists desperate for attention and power... so many voters who keep supporting them instead of choosing people who are civic minded and will just do the best job they can.