349 Comments
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oraxx's avatar

I'm a lot older than Walters and at least as well educated. I never took a class that involved the Bible from kindergarten through graduate school. He's attempting to put a book 'back' where it never was in the first place for the overwhelming majority of public school students. Religious extremists like Walters will always see their particular brand of supernatural nonsense as the solution to every question, while remaining oblivious to the fact his state that ranks near the bottom in education is, overwhelmingly, the work product of believers.

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Lux's avatar

Never mind the fact that he's clearly never read the Bible, OR the writings of the founders.

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oraxx's avatar

At best, he's cherry picked the magic book in the attempt to validate the conclusions he began with.

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Donrox's avatar

Retired clergy here. Cherry picking is the best anyone can do when dealing with the bibble.

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Lux's avatar

It's bizarre to me that I've met more atheists than Christians who've taken the time to actually read it, hell, it's more or less how many of them became atheists. Though for myself, I was raised Catholic, as a child, I stopped being a "believer" about the same time I stopped believing in Santa.

I don't say this to be glib, for many years, I *tried*, and kind of went along to get along, but eventually I reached the conclusion that "belief" cannot be forced, you either have it, or you don't. In any case, it was disingenuous for me to go on that way. I am of the school of thought of Thomas Paine on this, though not a "deist" either, as he was, ie:

"Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe."

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oraxx's avatar

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isacc Asimov

Nothing will convince me the genuine word of God would be something subject to never-ending debate.

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Lux's avatar

True, I grew up reading that guy's books too, my dad used to trade SF books with someone he worked with, and passed them down to me. Always suspected he just went to church for my mom's sake, but wasn't really a believer himself.

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Patris's avatar

Certainly elicited a “holy shit” from me as a teenager…

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Patris's avatar

Male dominance and crazy assedness

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Stephen Brady's avatar

I took 'Literature of the Bible' for my senior English credit. it was well taught by a crusty old English professor who had us read comparable stories in other religious texts. I was interesting, well-taught and not designed to make you into a christian... everything Ryan Walters would despise.

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Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

I had a minor in Religious Studies in college (academic study of religion) that required two languages, study of two religious traditions, and classes in anthropology, as well as survey courses. I was a bit ahead of my classmates, as I'd already read the entire Bible twice (the Douay catholic version at age 8-9, and the King James at 13), so most of the NRSV at college was familiar. I also took a graduate-level seminar of the Bible in modern Hebrew translation. My second tradition was Hinduism and Buddhism, and required much the same amount of study. I honestly doubt that many of these christian nationalists have studied anything approaching what I did, *nor do they want to*! They would be shocked at some of the stories I could tell about those classes, and the discussions of mythology, witchcraft, mystery religions, and more that went on. They just want little robot kids, not critical thinkers.

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Patris's avatar

In high school, same taught by a British/Greek/Jewish professor who was an Oxford grad. The course was called ‘Great Books’ - Old Testament (specifically Job), Gilgamesh Epic, Beowulf - then we argued our heads off…

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Kay-El's avatar

I took a Bible as Lit class in college. No religion allowed, strictly on the merits of the prose. My teacher was a crusty old guy too who would not tolerate any religious bullshit

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Patris's avatar

Refreshing

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NOGODZ20's avatar

OT

Lest we forget: A very Happy 42nd Birthday to Hemant Mehta.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Bon n'anniv'.

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larry parker's avatar

Who?

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Some amoral heathen. ;)

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larry parker's avatar

Ah, like Herman Meta.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Us, too. :D

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

Will there be Ice Cream Cake from Dairy Queen?

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XJC's avatar

Up vote with a subscription to keep Hemant doing what he does!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Already a subscriber. Gotta help in any way that I am able to do.

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Kay-El's avatar

Same!

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Happy Birthday Hermant, you wonderful substack writer!!

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Lynn Veit's avatar

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not this pasty-faced little weasel again! Somebody, PLEASE send him out to play in traffic.

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Richard S. Russell's avatar

Searching desperately for something kind to say about Ryan Walters, I choose to congratulate him for not feeling the need to wear a colored noose to further restrict the flow of blood to what passes for his brain.

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cdbunch's avatar

"Something happens to man when he puts on a tie, it cuts off the flow of oxygen to his brain"

Words to live by.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

He will die one day. There, does it work ?

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Kay-El's avatar

It does for me, though sooner rather than later

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Oh….I thought whatever passes for his brain had oozed out his ears and fled in terror a long time ago.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Why do you assume he had a brain?

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Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

On the I-80, during rush hour! May the commuters run over his smirking little face. Then toss him over the side of the Bridge. Gag. (One can fantasize.)

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Fantasy might be the only thing that keeps us sane nowadays. Like when you laugh sometimes to keep from crying.

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Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

Truly it is said. I love the idea of these idiots going ass-first off the approach to the Bay Bridge, while people in all the lanes laugh and point.

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cdbunch's avatar

Frogger across I-40 downtown OKC is probably the best you're going to get, he may survive, but he's going to need new pants.

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Donrox's avatar

More likely to find an overpass than a bridge over the Canadian River.

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cdbunch's avatar

I was thinking of the on-ramps that come from below the overpass and dump you in the right lane immediately. Those are a tad west of downtown.

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Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

They've always reminded me of the first time I drove one of those early on-ramps on the Pasadena freeway in LA: 10 feet, then a stop sign, then wham! (I think they've been rebuilt since the late-60s/early-70s, but fuuuuuuuck.)

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

The Parisian périph, a Saturday, anywhen between 12am to Sunday night.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

I refused to drive in Paris, and I've driven in most major North American cities, but Paris is scary with all the macho guys with dents on both sides of their car!

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Matri's avatar

Inside and outside?

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Probably! LOL! Left and right sides of the car.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Most Franciliens refuse to drive in Paris.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Is that the French name for Franciscan monks?

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Seulement de ceux qui ont jeté leurs soutanes aux orties.

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PollyProletariat's avatar

Indoctrination.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

That's fundamentalist Christianity's stock in trade.

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oraxx's avatar

Getting to kids before they're reached the age of reason is how religious institutions survive.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Yet, how many of you in their 70's or older here had a religious education (DM included ? And how many of you deconverted sometimes as early at 8 years old (Bagat or NOGODZ) ?

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Stephen Brady's avatar

Life-long atheist here. I saw through the bullshit in Sunday school when I was 8. I asked my Mom when I was 4 'if god made everyone, who mede god?'.

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Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

My question, to the nun in 2nd grade, was "Where is heaven and where is hell?" She pointed to the ceiling and said "Heaven is up there" and then pointed to the floor and said "Hell is down here." Now, I was born in the morning but not *that* morning. Even at age 7, I knew the world was round! So I asked if heaven was in outer space and if hell was in Australia. Got kicked out of class, the first of many times, for "asking inappropriate questions."

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Septuagenarian Contrarian's avatar

It is amazing to me how any adult would not know that there is no such a thing as an "inappropriate question".

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Ah, with me it was the dinosaurs if they ruled the earth for ages, why doesn't the bible mention them? Same result and I never went back.

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Munchygut's avatar

I had 13 years of catholic education (K-12). For some reason, the indoctrination didn't take. Yippee!

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

My mother went to catechism from whichever age it starts to around 13* years old. For her confirmation, her grandfather (hard-core atheist) even set foot in the church for a whole minute 🤣

And she ended up an Atheist.

*Once she reached that step, her grandmother told her she had now the choice to continue to go to church or not. She stopped, but her deconversion started several years later.

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Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

Oh, yeah. Catechism (catholic Sunday School) from ages 5-17. Cussed out the bishop who was confirming me at age 11. (I didn't know it at the time but he was a molester.) Ran away at 17, in part to ditch the religious nonsense. My 5 younger siblings were all unbelievers by age 11 as well. Moral of that story: forced religion only makes kids either resentful or dumb-as-rocks, take your pick.

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Straw's avatar

I am a Norwegian in my 60ies. At the regular school we learned about the biggest religions on earth. We visited a church and a synogoge and a moské. My parents never went to church unless a relatives had died or got married or baptised. I got religius at 20 and stopped 10 years later.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

We heard about mostly christianity and islam, and only in History. Nothing about judaism because ancient history was limited to Greece, Rome, Gaule and Egypt (not the Empire, just the core territory around the Nile).

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Donrox's avatar

I had religious education, including Catechism. which was based on memorizing Martin Luther's catechism. This was done in a special building called a "church".

0% of this education came at the public schools I attended. I have been to Oklahoma. I saw lots more churches than schools, there!

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Claudia's avatar

Ok, I’ll answer:

I went to a secondary school run by nuns. One of the classes was ‘religious education’ , and it was education, not prosetelysing. It was NOT christian indoctrination. One year I swapped over to the class taught by the minister and he didn’t do any Christianising either. He just taught us like any other teacher - we read original sources and discussed them in class. Or we discussed the relationship between various events and similar. (It was a class on the - rather complex - relationship between Christianity and Judaism. And yes, christian antisemitism was included.)

As regards your other question, no, I have not ‘deconverted’ but I am a bit lapsed these days.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Secular education. I have asked to go to catechism and if I had, I think she would have accepted but only if it was on Wednesdays*. I was in a boardschool since first grade and I had classes the Saturday morning from first to fifth grade, so she didn't get a lot of time with me.

* Wednesdays afternnoon were for club activities like cooking, theatre, sewing (the costumes for the theatre club), computer use initiation etc, half of the year and swimming or dance for the other half.

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Septuagenarian Contrarian's avatar

70+Here.... You nailed it!

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Only 44 🤣

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

The Sunday school materials he’s looking for are generally not quality materials that engage students. Rote memorization is their standard and has been found to be lacking in educational merit. Mostly, the materials are often not age appropriate, but in the opposite way Walters discusses with his “age appropriate materials”. The Sunday school type materials are dumbed down, and not even challenging enough for preschoolers to get anything worthwhile out of.

Even without the blatant unconstitutionality of this request, it is a huge disservice to the students.

And, sorry, but how can you be taken seriously when you say you are a trying to instill values and ethics while throwing values and ethics out the window. This goes way beyond hypocrisy.

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Tinker's avatar

Hypocrisy is the scaffolding the Republican platform is built on.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

It's their M.O., their brand, their standard operating procedure, their way of doing business. Only the little people need ethics and morals, so we can better serve the ruling class...without killing them.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

He insist about this a Lot, while doing a piss poor Job to get interesting materials.

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avis piscivorus's avatar

He isn't Abel to find any material at all.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Is there anyone who Cain ?

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I don't Noah anyone at the moment.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Esaw no one else around!

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Richard Wade's avatar

Another one of this lying fanatic's "standards":

“2.2.4 Describe why people from various places and cultures have migrated to the United States (e.g., improved quality of life, economic opportunities, individual freedom).”

Yeah, be sure to include plenty of information about how and why 12.5 million BLACK AFRICANS were "migrated" in chains to the Americas and bred as less-than-human beasts of burden for generations, and how and why uncountable NATIVE AMERICANS were "migrated" by bullets, guns, and plagues off their homelands to just die and rot unburied on the prairies or to enjoy their "improved quality of life" and "economic opportunities" on desolate land that at the time nobody else wanted.

Oh, you have already prepared your hollow rationalizations for NOT including any of that in your FAIRY TALE about 'Merica? That means that you know your omissions are purely for racist and revisionist reasons. Spare us the nausea.

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Old Man Shadow's avatar

Complicating this is also the fact that many bible stories are moral examples only in the negative sense that a moral person should absolutely NOT emulate Iron Age persons.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

How many times was wanker told "NO!" ? It's confirmed, not only he is fundamentalist, but he is a, going out of the closet, masochist.

"and certainly the foundational documents of the country, were not influenced by Christianity."

Au contraire, it's because they were influenced as children by christianity, that they rejected it as adults when US and England went on their separate way.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

I suspect that Walters is spending too much time with his fingers in his ears, shouting, "LALALALA, I can't HEAR YOU!" at the top of his lungs.

Or something closely equivalent.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Off with his fingers.

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Psittacus Ebrius's avatar

And his head up his ass!

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Donrox's avatar

You know that I admire your mastery of the English language. But, sometimes you come up with things that are technically correct, but end up being adorable. Going out of the closet is correct English, but the idiom is coming out of the closet.

I am so glad you are part of the international community gathered here.

Bonne soiree, mon amie!

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cdbunch's avatar

The frustrating thing is a man in charge of Education for a state can be so uneducated to actually believe Barton's bullshit.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Sadly, he's one more indoctrinated fool who figured out that he can gain power and influence by using the Christian Nationalist playbook to his advantage.

Unfortunately, he will likely have to be spanked in court a few times before he realizes that his little scheme isn't gonna work.

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Matri's avatar

But then you look at Trump’s “cabinet” and see they are all (including Trump) are uneducated, incompetent, and unsuitable.

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Whitney's avatar

One of the biggest issues I have with the current MAGA/Christian Nationalist crowd (aside from their lying, cheating, and general lack of worthwhile virtues) is the way they very specifically are not supporters of US law. These people have claimed for years now that they are the 'law and order' party of the nation, yet when a law is even marginally in their way, they ignore it. That's not supporting the US or its laws, that's 'my way or the highway' and quite honestly the worst sort of authoritarianism.

Ryan Walters is nothing more than a Christian bully trying to use his religion as a blunt instrument to force the rest of the world to dance to his tune. This behavior has of late been the defining characteristic of the MAGA Republican, and it's never been patriotic despite what some might want to claim. Trump is not king of the US, and Ryan Walters certainly isn't part of Trump's 'royal' court; it's past time they stopped acting like they are.

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Kay-El's avatar

👏🏼👏🏼

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NOGODZ20's avatar

This child molesting groomer AGAIN?

To Childkillah Walters: Jeez dude, the answer is NO!

(if you're wondering about the "Childkillah" reference: Click on rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ryan_Walters and scroll down/click on "The death of Nex Benedict")

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Walters is one of those people who simply doesn't know when to quit. The problem is that, being that this is Oklahoma (for the umpti-umpth time!), he figures that eventually he'll get traction.

Here's hoping his tires are bald!

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

He likes this word as much as Aria, but unlike him she was cute when she pouted.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Suzanne Titkemeyer opened her newsletter today with the following observation:

"What do howler monkeys and good Christian patriarchs have in common? Tiny balls and ridiculously loud voices!'

https://withstrangefire.substack.com/p/woman-be-silent

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Bagat's avatar

Stolen and reposted.

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Linda's avatar

I'd like to see the lesson plans for this one: 24 When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines. From Samuel 18:24-26 And David did it - killed 200 men and sliced off their foreskin and carried it back to the king - ewww. https://thebrickbible.com/legacy/david_vs_saul/david_mutilates_200_gets_married/1s18_27b.html

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cdbunch's avatar

These are U.S kids. You'd have to explain what a foreskin is even to most of the boys.

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larry parker's avatar

That has been cut from the curriculum.

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cdbunch's avatar

Depends on the circumcision.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Oh yes, just what you want to read to a classroom full of elementary school kids.

(Little Susie raises her hand) "Teacher, what's a foreskin?"

Teacher: "Well, Susie, uhm...."

(Fast-forward to later that evening when the teacher's phone starts blowing up with angry phone calls and death threats from outraged parents)

*******

Or high school kids either for that matter. A bunch of hormone-addled teens aren't going to focus on anything except that one word: "Foreskins." Shits and giggles. That's literally all they'll get out of it, unless you count coming up with the most embarrassing ways ever to frame questions just to get the teacher flustered.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

There's a film out now about David and Goliath. At least according to my You-tube feeds. I wonder if it mentions foreskins.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Do someone needs to get stoned to watch it ?

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John Roberts's avatar

"Christian propaganda" Oklahoma, MAGA cult country with no end in sight. Their Lord Trump likes to play America as a country ideology. Starting with the Gulf of America.

IMO not going to be satisfied until all the Americas are one nation under MAGA.

God Bless America?

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Lynn Veit's avatar

And Greenland, even though it belongs to Denmark. And the Gaza Strip, which will soon be the Las Vegas of the Middle East (if Trumpy gets his wish).

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Charles Newman's avatar

Can't wait, in MAGA We Trust? Pure entertainment!

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Murican version of "Panem and circenses" without the bread and with a bloody clown and his unhinged pet at its head.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

🎼 And I'm proud to be an A-MAGA-can, but a POTUS race ain't free,

And I won't forget my Lord God Musk, who wrote those checks to me

And I'll even stand up and fire your ass from your federal agency

Cuz there ain't no doubt, I rule this la-a-a-a-and...

God Bless the GOP!

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Len Koz's avatar

Donnie isn't Leon's pet, Donnie is his hand puppet.

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cdbunch's avatar

Wonder how many casinos he'll bankrupt there.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

As many as he can build, if his track record is any indication.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

He bankrupted casinos surrounded by successful casinos that didn't have the Trump name on them.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Just how far beyond ludicrous can these idiots go? Answer: I think the distance is measured in light-years.

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Bagat's avatar

Anymore, I feel only contempt for these fools actually buying this bulolshit. Now that god is finally aware 1700 years later, will it stop the rapes? LOL

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Bagat's avatar

Since this took omniscient god 1700 years to see this, has it ever heard any prayers yet? Obviously not since it could not hear the screams of little kids.

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