So the bible isn't open to criticism, eh? Can't say anything bad about all the intolerable crap contained within its pages? I got a news bulletin for Walters. Critical speech IS free speech, and if he wants to contest that, I can think of four or five organizations that would be more than happy to contest his assertions in a court of law. And THEY know what they're doing.
The fact that he doesn't know what he's doing is how he got the job. Competency hasn't been on the list of qualifications for the NSGOP for a long time now.
It is a win-win for him though. He either gets to force his magic book into the public schools, or play the poor, persecuted victim of the Godless left. The second option will likely be the more profitiable one because of the speaking fees that will come with it.
What i see as his qualifications? He has none. What the people who put him in the job see? He's a Christian Nationalist who hates all the things they hate and has promised to make Christianity mandatory.
I don’t disagree with you that Ryan’s posturing of his religious views are extremely problematic for educational mandates at the state level. However, he has a history of teaching (including AP history), so from an education perspective he is qualified.
They know what they are doing. And there is finesse in how they move the goal post.
I’m curious how folks that support religion in state schools would feel if the teacher believed in spare the rod spoil the child.
If a thing is true you can question it all you want and it will always be the thing you come back to. No wonder the Bible-thumpers do what they can to stifle any and all criticism of their magic book.
I've been watching lots of atheist content on TikTok (it's pretty educational!), and I noticed all these Christians pull out their bibles and there are all kinds of bookmarks of their favorite passages. That way, I guess they go straight to the "God is Good" stuff and skip over the parts where he killed people, or how women were treated, or how slavery was okay and all the contradictions in the gospels.
Free speech isn't terribly relevant to what teachers have to teach in a secondary school class with a prescribed curriculum. What IS relevant - and fortunate - is that there's nothing about the bible in the AP Government curriculum. There is certainly no demand in the curriculum to teach Genesis and Exodus as factually true, so teachers (for the most part) simply won't teach that.
IIRC, "isn't open to critical analysis" was one of the reasons U. California disqualified private Christian school classes from their early admissions fast track/state admissions guarantee, in the 2007 ASCI vs. Stearns lawsuit. UC won that case, though I'm not sure what the impact on the Christian schools was (i.e. did they lose students as their parents sought out schools that qualified? Did they change their classes to comply with California early admissions requirements? Both? Neither?)
Since the Christian Education Industrial Complex has their own shadow set of higher education schools, I would imagine that most would wear their "persecution by the godless courts" as a badge of honour and not comply with Commiefornia.
Well at that time, the parents of the schoolkids were heavily invested in winning that suit because the benefit was just so good for them. Basically: guaranteed admission into a Cal State or UC school - somewhere - for any graduating senior in the top 10% of a qualified CA high school. They really wanted that. They didn't get it.
You're right, there are more 'shadow' private Christian colleges now than there were in 2007, but I don't think we should go whole-hog pessimist about that. There aren't enough for the population. They are far more expensive than the state schools in many states. Not every fundie parent wants that for their kid. And not every parent sending their kid to a private Christian school - especially in the voucher age - is a fundie to start with. So I think the parents can still exert a lot of pressure on the school system to do the right thing. I think the grassroots backlash against Walters is an example of that, though obviously that's about public school parents and kids not private.
In any event, nope, I don't think all or even most Chrisitian parents would see as a badge of honor that their kids' school was disqualified from a "get good grades, have a guaranteed spot in the states' college system" benefit.
While I agree, it remains to be seen how much of this is going to last with the Christian Nationalists having their hands on all the buttons. I hope people are going to fight it, obviously, I just began a blog to help people skill up their critical thinking in the hopes that I can do my bit. But it's hard not to feel hopeless. If promoting logic and reason was so bloody difficult even while Church & State separation was still pretty good...
I'm waiting for the friendly atheist to say something about the threat to free speech by christian and Jewish zionists who are equating disparagement of their ideology with racism, specifically antisemitism. the threat to free speech by zionist legislation is currently a great threat. Its purpose is to actually facilitate a genocide and ethnic cleansing that is being carried out by Israel and funded and armed by the united states. Given that Zionism is a religious and political ideology that is grounded in judaism, and upheld by lots of Christians in the united states, I'd expect that the opposition that he has toward bibles being pushed in classrooms would also manifest in opposition to millions of people being tortured substantially because of biblical mythology. There is a very eerie and odd silence about Zionism on this substack. Does it not matter what "conservative Christian Evangelicals" are doing to Palestinians and only what they are doing in american primary schools? They are blowing them up in gaza.
I've written a book about this topic that's available here:
Yes Jeff and I for one appreciate your compassion and willingness to raise such an important moral issue that entails all of us, not just because we are joined to the hip with this mass murder through our goverments, but also because of the potential that this could bring about a broader conflict & and in time, a possible nuclear exchange. Those who think this to be alarmist and melodramatic clearly have no understanding of peoples long held grievances, insecurites and the fact that history is repetitive in nature.
I fully understand the angst people have about Trump and the rest of the mercenaries around him which includes those unhinged so called evangelicals who in essence are practical athiests. Nonetheless, Biden and other democrates have blood on their hands for fueling this continued bombardment.
What also baffles me is that people like yourself are often misunderstood, because the issue isn't about taking sides and national loyalty, no rathet its about human decency. Therefore others like yourself would also be grieved if this was occurring on a mass scale to Israeli, US, or UK citizens. I'm no academic, theologian, or historian, but from the time I spent in Sunday school as a child, all this christian nationalism & christian zionism seems to be anathema to the life and teachings of Jesus.
Ryan Walters is a delusional fool. Evidently, he is convinced if you just slap the word Christian on something, it automatically becomes all that is good and right with the world. Never mind the countless horrors perpetrated by Christians in the name of Christianity. He isn't just ignoring the First Amendment, he's burning it to the ground. The Bible has no place in the public school curriculum. The philosophy of John Locke had far more impact on what went into the Constitution than the Bible did. The founders specifically banned religious tests for holding public office. I doubt Walters is even aware of that, and likely sees it as just a suggestion if he is. The founders knew their European history and wanted no part of the sectarian strife that has soaked the soil of the old world in blood for centuries.
“essays that require critical thinking and analysis of the Bible’s role in literature, history, and culture.”
Cool, so assign the students an essay discussing how slavery advocates used the Bible to support their positions, and how abolitionists used the Bible to support theirs. Walters should love that.
And explain how a drunken Lot did not have "Whisky dick" and could obtain an erection enough to impregnate his daughters, when so drunk he couldn't identify them?
Brilliant! And there’s also the whole “Mark of Ham” idea perpetuated by racists. A LOT of room to maneuver when it comes to how the Bible has been used to keep people down.
What Walters means by not promoting or favoring religious beliefs is not what ordinary people mean. He means that anything contrary to his interpretation of the bible is promoting religion and that his interpretation of the bible is simply the default. To him, deference to the biblical narrative is what is neutral and objective, while actual neutrality and objectivity is promoting the evil religion of not-Christian. I would bet that a teacher simply acknowledging the fact that there are religions other than Christianity would be seen by Walters as promoting religion.
Although he would probably accept that having a pastor teaching a class how to become a Christian is indeed promoting religion. If a teacher did the exact same thing, he would say that's perfectly acceptable.
There are a fair number of passages in the bible that are completely inappropriate for children (Lot and his daughters, anyone?). Does Walters also want THOSE taught to kids? That's the sort of content that Walters and others would try to ban if they appeared in any other book on library shelves or in book stores.
My guess is that Walters would suppress knowledge of those less-than-savory passages. Gee, does that mean he's criticizing the bible?
The homily at church a few weeks ago was something along the lines of "god didn't create us because he wants or needs anything, but rather because he wants us to be able to go to heaven," which still implies that god has wants.
It's Oklahoma. The chances that a teacher will use his/her classroom time to proselytize for the Bible are FAR greater than s/he will use it to bash The, ahem, "Good" Book.
He means he wants to indoctrinate the children in church and school. Nope. Teachers will just give a “both sides” speech. I’ll do it. If religion requires faith but not evidence, is the Bible necessary for believing?
I couldn't have horror comics as a kid. (kept 'em at my friend's house, lol)
But at home, I'd read the bible. David and Goliath? I got a slingshot. Sodom and Gommorah? Great stuff! Bowels spilled upon the earth. (had to look up 'bowels' in the dictionary, ooo ick!) Babies dashed to death against walls. Jericho. Jezebel.
Lots of stuff in there for a bloody minded little kid with no horror comics!
It's a nasty book filled with torture, murder, glorification of martyrdom, abuse of women, (slaves and concubines who can't say "no" to rape, qwar, justification of violence, all bought to us from men who didn't know where the sun went at night, "good book" my ass! And the biggest crime of all it is ahistorical, yet claims to be true!
It's only the beginning of the vast rewriting of history that will spread as the rightwingers consolidate their power. These monsters have a profound contempt for facts and the truth. Consider how Christianity is a massively retconned spinoff of Judaism and they're utterly incapable of understanding how absurd that is. They believe that it's a gross violation of their religious freedom to stop them from imposing their religion on others and SCOTUS and many other MAGAT judges go along with this. I ain't too sanguine about the future, sure, I'm a pessimist, but pessimists are generally more realistic than optimists so all I can think is 'buckle up'.
The thing that comforts me is the fact that right-wing Christians will never be able to come together. The right-wing Catholics will always consider Protestant fundamentalists as outside the true church. Southern Baptists will always assume that Catholics are going to hell. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has made them all like the dog who caught the car.
Being pessimistic, as usual, what I see is an emboldening that will give impetus to work towards a national ban as well as continuing with banning IVF, birth control, and possibly even condoms and divorce, they want all of that and what's to stop them? Facts and reason have ZERO sway with these mfers.
One has to wonder how a teacher is supposed to handle a students questions about archeological evidence that doesn't support the "historical" narrative of the Bible.
"Well Billy, that's a good question for your history teacher, or your biology teacher if your question is about genetic bottlenecks in human and animal species in the early bronze age and late stone age in the middle east. But we aren't covering it in AP Government. Now, would someone like to tell me what they learned from chapter 1 of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠: 𝐴 𝑈𝑠𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝐺𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒, and what it says about..."
Yup. Like the meteorite strike which was similar to but larger than Chelyabinsk that utterly destroyed the area around Sodom and Gomorrah and knocked down the walls of Jericho with a sonic blast?
Scientific fact more than 2,000 years later is stronger than religious fables attempting to explain an actual “cosmic” event that exceeded the then available knowledge. What does a priest, rabbi or shaman tell the surviving people to comfort or scare them after a meteor strike obliterated an entire region and left massive salt deposits that rendered thousands of square miles of land unusable for more than 500 years? They cook up a story that God was so upset about all of the “bad” people and their “irreverent” actions in Sodom and Gomorrah that he sent a vengeful angel from heaven to earth and specifically targeted the offending areas, turned some people into pillars of salt, destroyed the two offending cities in a blast of fire and heat, and blew his trumpet to knock down the walls of Jericho. Simple way to scare the people into religious submission by transforming a meteor strike into an act of God. Who are the people going to believe?
'Ironically, that guidance insists teachers must “not promote or favor any religious beliefs” and that these classes must be taught “in a neutral and objective manner.”'
I'm not sure it's ironic any more. Republicans and Evangelicals don't just lie; they also redefine common English words to turn them into cult jargon. In short, the words of Evangelicals and Republicans are meaningless.
Ryan "Killer" Walters, grown adult with imaginary friends losing his shit over any and all who dare criticize his book of fairy tales. Meanwhile, his 43rd-ranked state finds itself next-to-last in Education. Is it any wonder why? Seems this little bully needs a time out.
Ryan. Sweetie. Pookie. It's 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳. You didn't get the job. Your bribe wasn't big enough. It's time to settle down and stop trying to get your idol's attention; you're only embarrassing yourself, now.
Oh no Joan, hope springs infernal with the Mango Mussolini. He doesn’t have the position now, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t be available six months after the inauguration. All the boot lickers need to keep on keeping on because the choice positions will be available again and again and again. Through this term, and probably his entire reign.
Secretary of (mis)Education was one of the few posts that he 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 make his minions play musical chairs with last time around. Of course, this time around he made destroying the ED part of his platform, so who knows?
...there is also a non-zero probability that the Nat-Cs running Project 2025 just told him "we're going to get rid of the ED" and he thought they were talking about boner pills.
Tangerine Tojo loves his catchphrase too much to keep from firing people and then claiming he never met them when something nasty comes out about them.
Well, of all Trump's appointments so far, McMahon for Ed. Sec. is probably one of the ones that will go through easiest. She's got experience running a large organization, has been an appointee before (which also implies there are no hidden bombshells in her closet), and is a big GOP donor. Moreover, given all the worse appointments, I can't see Murkowski or Collins spending much political capital trying to stop this one. They have much worse choices they need to spend that capital trying to stop.
So unless for some reason she decides not to take it or Trump 'promotes' her to a more important administration or appointee slot, I'd say Ed. Sec. is locked up and Walters has no chance at it.
Sure, but I expect she will say or do something to get under his skin and be fired. He’s fucking demented, dementia addled, worse than last time, and he already gets his endorphin rush from firing people, no one is safe. I doubt his children are protected now. We are all in for a wild ride, and no one will be left unscathed.
That was just the most hated man in DC. Collins has a history of being shocked and/or appalled by what Trump wants and then voting for it anyway. The talking heads on MSNBC kept bringing up what she had to say but my feeling was it was irrelevant considering her history.
The point being, they just did what you claimed they wouldn't do. So yes, it can happen (again). We know this because it just did happen.
I don't think that Trump has the lock on unanimous R support in either House or Senate that he thinks he does. Particularly given that he's going in as a lame duck. Many in Congress will do whatever he says, sure, but those who think they are shoe-ins for reelection or have moderate bases that they can't ignore, those folks aren't going to give in to everything he wants merely because they have an (R) next to their name or because he blusters to drag their name through the mud. They don't have to - they need him a lot less than he needs them.
So the bible isn't open to criticism, eh? Can't say anything bad about all the intolerable crap contained within its pages? I got a news bulletin for Walters. Critical speech IS free speech, and if he wants to contest that, I can think of four or five organizations that would be more than happy to contest his assertions in a court of law. And THEY know what they're doing.
Walters? Not so much.
The fact that he doesn't know what he's doing is how he got the job. Competency hasn't been on the list of qualifications for the NSGOP for a long time now.
Well, when he get his ass handed to him by the FFRF or American Atheists, his ineptitude won't make for much of a defense.
It is a win-win for him though. He either gets to force his magic book into the public schools, or play the poor, persecuted victim of the Godless left. The second option will likely be the more profitiable one because of the speaking fees that will come with it.
Not with the religious zealots on the corrupted Supreme Court. They’ll agree with the Bible thumper.
Nothing surprises me anymore.
Curious, what do you see as the qualifications for the job he currently holds?
What i see as his qualifications? He has none. What the people who put him in the job see? He's a Christian Nationalist who hates all the things they hate and has promised to make Christianity mandatory.
I don’t disagree with you that Ryan’s posturing of his religious views are extremely problematic for educational mandates at the state level. However, he has a history of teaching (including AP history), so from an education perspective he is qualified.
They know what they are doing. And there is finesse in how they move the goal post.
I’m curious how folks that support religion in state schools would feel if the teacher believed in spare the rod spoil the child.
I grew up in rural Iowa. “Paddling” was an accepted practice back then and I’ve no doubt that is still is.
If a thing is true you can question it all you want and it will always be the thing you come back to. No wonder the Bible-thumpers do what they can to stifle any and all criticism of their magic book.
If I was a teacher here I would reference every disgusting detail and hate the Bible shows.
If a thing is false, yet someone wants to assert it as true, you can question it, too! Isn't that nice? 😁
How long will it take before some judge in a R. state get a case that allowes the judge to rule that their truth is the only truth there is?
I've been watching lots of atheist content on TikTok (it's pretty educational!), and I noticed all these Christians pull out their bibles and there are all kinds of bookmarks of their favorite passages. That way, I guess they go straight to the "God is Good" stuff and skip over the parts where he killed people, or how women were treated, or how slavery was okay and all the contradictions in the gospels.
And anytime I reference the sections where God is being a dick, I’m told that I haven’t considered the Bible in toto.
Walters currently has tunnel vision where he can only see his agenda. Someone needs to run a train through that tunnel! LET'S GO, PARENTS!!!
Free speech isn't terribly relevant to what teachers have to teach in a secondary school class with a prescribed curriculum. What IS relevant - and fortunate - is that there's nothing about the bible in the AP Government curriculum. There is certainly no demand in the curriculum to teach Genesis and Exodus as factually true, so teachers (for the most part) simply won't teach that.
IIRC, "isn't open to critical analysis" was one of the reasons U. California disqualified private Christian school classes from their early admissions fast track/state admissions guarantee, in the 2007 ASCI vs. Stearns lawsuit. UC won that case, though I'm not sure what the impact on the Christian schools was (i.e. did they lose students as their parents sought out schools that qualified? Did they change their classes to comply with California early admissions requirements? Both? Neither?)
Since the Christian Education Industrial Complex has their own shadow set of higher education schools, I would imagine that most would wear their "persecution by the godless courts" as a badge of honour and not comply with Commiefornia.
Well at that time, the parents of the schoolkids were heavily invested in winning that suit because the benefit was just so good for them. Basically: guaranteed admission into a Cal State or UC school - somewhere - for any graduating senior in the top 10% of a qualified CA high school. They really wanted that. They didn't get it.
You're right, there are more 'shadow' private Christian colleges now than there were in 2007, but I don't think we should go whole-hog pessimist about that. There aren't enough for the population. They are far more expensive than the state schools in many states. Not every fundie parent wants that for their kid. And not every parent sending their kid to a private Christian school - especially in the voucher age - is a fundie to start with. So I think the parents can still exert a lot of pressure on the school system to do the right thing. I think the grassroots backlash against Walters is an example of that, though obviously that's about public school parents and kids not private.
In any event, nope, I don't think all or even most Chrisitian parents would see as a badge of honor that their kids' school was disqualified from a "get good grades, have a guaranteed spot in the states' college system" benefit.
While I agree, it remains to be seen how much of this is going to last with the Christian Nationalists having their hands on all the buttons. I hope people are going to fight it, obviously, I just began a blog to help people skill up their critical thinking in the hopes that I can do my bit. But it's hard not to feel hopeless. If promoting logic and reason was so bloody difficult even while Church & State separation was still pretty good...
I'm waiting for the friendly atheist to say something about the threat to free speech by christian and Jewish zionists who are equating disparagement of their ideology with racism, specifically antisemitism. the threat to free speech by zionist legislation is currently a great threat. Its purpose is to actually facilitate a genocide and ethnic cleansing that is being carried out by Israel and funded and armed by the united states. Given that Zionism is a religious and political ideology that is grounded in judaism, and upheld by lots of Christians in the united states, I'd expect that the opposition that he has toward bibles being pushed in classrooms would also manifest in opposition to millions of people being tortured substantially because of biblical mythology. There is a very eerie and odd silence about Zionism on this substack. Does it not matter what "conservative Christian Evangelicals" are doing to Palestinians and only what they are doing in american primary schools? They are blowing them up in gaza.
I've written a book about this topic that's available here:
https://minorityreport.substack.com/p/the-children-of-amalek
Yes Jeff and I for one appreciate your compassion and willingness to raise such an important moral issue that entails all of us, not just because we are joined to the hip with this mass murder through our goverments, but also because of the potential that this could bring about a broader conflict & and in time, a possible nuclear exchange. Those who think this to be alarmist and melodramatic clearly have no understanding of peoples long held grievances, insecurites and the fact that history is repetitive in nature.
I fully understand the angst people have about Trump and the rest of the mercenaries around him which includes those unhinged so called evangelicals who in essence are practical athiests. Nonetheless, Biden and other democrates have blood on their hands for fueling this continued bombardment.
What also baffles me is that people like yourself are often misunderstood, because the issue isn't about taking sides and national loyalty, no rathet its about human decency. Therefore others like yourself would also be grieved if this was occurring on a mass scale to Israeli, US, or UK citizens. I'm no academic, theologian, or historian, but from the time I spent in Sunday school as a child, all this christian nationalism & christian zionism seems to be anathema to the life and teachings of Jesus.
Ryan Walters is a delusional fool. Evidently, he is convinced if you just slap the word Christian on something, it automatically becomes all that is good and right with the world. Never mind the countless horrors perpetrated by Christians in the name of Christianity. He isn't just ignoring the First Amendment, he's burning it to the ground. The Bible has no place in the public school curriculum. The philosophy of John Locke had far more impact on what went into the Constitution than the Bible did. The founders specifically banned religious tests for holding public office. I doubt Walters is even aware of that, and likely sees it as just a suggestion if he is. The founders knew their European history and wanted no part of the sectarian strife that has soaked the soil of the old world in blood for centuries.
👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆🎯We are not, and have never been, a christian nation, for all the reason you have mentioned.
“essays that require critical thinking and analysis of the Bible’s role in literature, history, and culture.”
Cool, so assign the students an essay discussing how slavery advocates used the Bible to support their positions, and how abolitionists used the Bible to support theirs. Walters should love that.
"𝘔𝘳. 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺? 𝘔𝘳 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴? 𝘜𝘮𝘮𝘮... 𝘔𝘳. 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦."
Debate the question of why the Bible never mentions women needing to give their consent, and there is no prohibition of rape.
And explain how a drunken Lot did not have "Whisky dick" and could obtain an erection enough to impregnate his daughters, when so drunk he couldn't identify them?
Brilliant! And there’s also the whole “Mark of Ham” idea perpetuated by racists. A LOT of room to maneuver when it comes to how the Bible has been used to keep people down.
You can't teach from the Bible without indoctrination unless you teach it as a myth. Period.
Or teach it as a horror story, there are more than enough to choose from.
𝐼𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 “𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠” 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 “𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟.”
What Walters means by not promoting or favoring religious beliefs is not what ordinary people mean. He means that anything contrary to his interpretation of the bible is promoting religion and that his interpretation of the bible is simply the default. To him, deference to the biblical narrative is what is neutral and objective, while actual neutrality and objectivity is promoting the evil religion of not-Christian. I would bet that a teacher simply acknowledging the fact that there are religions other than Christianity would be seen by Walters as promoting religion.
Although he would probably accept that having a pastor teaching a class how to become a Christian is indeed promoting religion. If a teacher did the exact same thing, he would say that's perfectly acceptable.
There are a fair number of passages in the bible that are completely inappropriate for children (Lot and his daughters, anyone?). Does Walters also want THOSE taught to kids? That's the sort of content that Walters and others would try to ban if they appeared in any other book on library shelves or in book stores.
My guess is that Walters would suppress knowledge of those less-than-savory passages. Gee, does that mean he's criticizing the bible?
He's the kind who reads Genesis 19:30-38 to children to give them gift ideas for him.
Kinda makes one wonder what an all-powerful god would need that it couldn't make for itself.
The homily at church a few weeks ago was something along the lines of "god didn't create us because he wants or needs anything, but rather because he wants us to be able to go to heaven," which still implies that god has wants.
Then why not put us in heaven to begin with? 🤔
I'm in heaven....{looks outside}...no, it's Iowa.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/859b4863a9480d5349963320ff7dfcde/57569dc9ad8b3482-fe/s400x600/98c30a0624743e3e0f683fb36ba25293ab6db026.gifv
Yeah, I've been to Dyersville....it's not a bad little community, but certainly not what I'd consider to be heaven.
Maybe if they get a White Castle.......
I thought West Virginia was heaven. Or almost heaven, at least.
One of the many, many things that don't make sense.
Logic for the win!
This fucking guy… these quotes are gaslighting at its finest.
“Educate not indoctrinate.” Yes that’s why we don’t want the Bible being taught in public schools! So kids aren’t indoctrinated to believe it!
👆👆🎯
The Bible is fine in a class focusing on comparative mythology, the impact of religions on societies, etc.
That's not what Oklahoma has in mind, unfortunately.
It's Oklahoma. The chances that a teacher will use his/her classroom time to proselytize for the Bible are FAR greater than s/he will use it to bash The, ahem, "Good" Book.
He means he wants to indoctrinate the children in church and school. Nope. Teachers will just give a “both sides” speech. I’ll do it. If religion requires faith but not evidence, is the Bible necessary for believing?
Definetly you can believe without the Bible. I think The Bible dies turn many away.
I couldn't have horror comics as a kid. (kept 'em at my friend's house, lol)
But at home, I'd read the bible. David and Goliath? I got a slingshot. Sodom and Gommorah? Great stuff! Bowels spilled upon the earth. (had to look up 'bowels' in the dictionary, ooo ick!) Babies dashed to death against walls. Jericho. Jezebel.
Lots of stuff in there for a bloody minded little kid with no horror comics!
Nothing reaffirms the 'ol nonbelief like re-reading some scripture!
It's a nasty book filled with torture, murder, glorification of martyrdom, abuse of women, (slaves and concubines who can't say "no" to rape, qwar, justification of violence, all bought to us from men who didn't know where the sun went at night, "good book" my ass! And the biggest crime of all it is ahistorical, yet claims to be true!
It's only the beginning of the vast rewriting of history that will spread as the rightwingers consolidate their power. These monsters have a profound contempt for facts and the truth. Consider how Christianity is a massively retconned spinoff of Judaism and they're utterly incapable of understanding how absurd that is. They believe that it's a gross violation of their religious freedom to stop them from imposing their religion on others and SCOTUS and many other MAGAT judges go along with this. I ain't too sanguine about the future, sure, I'm a pessimist, but pessimists are generally more realistic than optimists so all I can think is 'buckle up'.
The thing that comforts me is the fact that right-wing Christians will never be able to come together. The right-wing Catholics will always consider Protestant fundamentalists as outside the true church. Southern Baptists will always assume that Catholics are going to hell. The overturning of Roe v. Wade has made them all like the dog who caught the car.
Being pessimistic, as usual, what I see is an emboldening that will give impetus to work towards a national ban as well as continuing with banning IVF, birth control, and possibly even condoms and divorce, they want all of that and what's to stop them? Facts and reason have ZERO sway with these mfers.
Yep, they have tasted the metaphorical blood in the water and are drunk with power.
That may not save any of us, because they'll kill us first! Then they'll fight over the rubble that is left.
One has to wonder how a teacher is supposed to handle a students questions about archeological evidence that doesn't support the "historical" narrative of the Bible.
"Well Billy, that's a good question for your history teacher, or your biology teacher if your question is about genetic bottlenecks in human and animal species in the early bronze age and late stone age in the middle east. But we aren't covering it in AP Government. Now, would someone like to tell me what they learned from chapter 1 of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠: 𝐴 𝑈𝑠𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝐺𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒, and what it says about..."
Yup. Like the meteorite strike which was similar to but larger than Chelyabinsk that utterly destroyed the area around Sodom and Gomorrah and knocked down the walls of Jericho with a sonic blast?
Scientific fact more than 2,000 years later is stronger than religious fables attempting to explain an actual “cosmic” event that exceeded the then available knowledge. What does a priest, rabbi or shaman tell the surviving people to comfort or scare them after a meteor strike obliterated an entire region and left massive salt deposits that rendered thousands of square miles of land unusable for more than 500 years? They cook up a story that God was so upset about all of the “bad” people and their “irreverent” actions in Sodom and Gomorrah that he sent a vengeful angel from heaven to earth and specifically targeted the offending areas, turned some people into pillars of salt, destroyed the two offending cities in a blast of fire and heat, and blew his trumpet to knock down the walls of Jericho. Simple way to scare the people into religious submission by transforming a meteor strike into an act of God. Who are the people going to believe?
'Ironically, that guidance insists teachers must “not promote or favor any religious beliefs” and that these classes must be taught “in a neutral and objective manner.”'
I'm not sure it's ironic any more. Republicans and Evangelicals don't just lie; they also redefine common English words to turn them into cult jargon. In short, the words of Evangelicals and Republicans are meaningless.
Ryan "Killer" Walters, grown adult with imaginary friends losing his shit over any and all who dare criticize his book of fairy tales. Meanwhile, his 43rd-ranked state finds itself next-to-last in Education. Is it any wonder why? Seems this little bully needs a time out.
Ryan. Sweetie. Pookie. It's 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳. You didn't get the job. Your bribe wasn't big enough. It's time to settle down and stop trying to get your idol's attention; you're only embarrassing yourself, now.
Oh no Joan, hope springs infernal with the Mango Mussolini. He doesn’t have the position now, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t be available six months after the inauguration. All the boot lickers need to keep on keeping on because the choice positions will be available again and again and again. Through this term, and probably his entire reign.
Secretary of (mis)Education was one of the few posts that he 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 make his minions play musical chairs with last time around. Of course, this time around he made destroying the ED part of his platform, so who knows?
...there is also a non-zero probability that the Nat-Cs running Project 2025 just told him "we're going to get rid of the ED" and he thought they were talking about boner pills.
All we know is that he’s worse than he was in 2016, DeVos was able to keep the target off her back, but that doesn’t mean the position is a safe one.
Tangerine Tojo loves his catchphrase too much to keep from firing people and then claiming he never met them when something nasty comes out about them.
Well, of all Trump's appointments so far, McMahon for Ed. Sec. is probably one of the ones that will go through easiest. She's got experience running a large organization, has been an appointee before (which also implies there are no hidden bombshells in her closet), and is a big GOP donor. Moreover, given all the worse appointments, I can't see Murkowski or Collins spending much political capital trying to stop this one. They have much worse choices they need to spend that capital trying to stop.
So unless for some reason she decides not to take it or Trump 'promotes' her to a more important administration or appointee slot, I'd say Ed. Sec. is locked up and Walters has no chance at it.
Sure, but I expect she will say or do something to get under his skin and be fired. He’s fucking demented, dementia addled, worse than last time, and he already gets his endorphin rush from firing people, no one is safe. I doubt his children are protected now. We are all in for a wild ride, and no one will be left unscathed.
The USA is in for a long, in-depth lesson on the meaning of FAFO.
Neither Murkowski nor Collins is going to vote against any Trump nominee.
But, but...They will send sternly worded letters!
Not even.
They already tanked one. They killed Gaetz' nomination by stating they wouldn't confirm him.
That was just the most hated man in DC. Collins has a history of being shocked and/or appalled by what Trump wants and then voting for it anyway. The talking heads on MSNBC kept bringing up what she had to say but my feeling was it was irrelevant considering her history.
Stephen King has a deep dislike of Collins and thinks she should be out on her ass.
The point being, they just did what you claimed they wouldn't do. So yes, it can happen (again). We know this because it just did happen.
I don't think that Trump has the lock on unanimous R support in either House or Senate that he thinks he does. Particularly given that he's going in as a lame duck. Many in Congress will do whatever he says, sure, but those who think they are shoe-ins for reelection or have moderate bases that they can't ignore, those folks aren't going to give in to everything he wants merely because they have an (R) next to their name or because he blusters to drag their name through the mud. They don't have to - they need him a lot less than he needs them.
🤣🤣🤣
Deputy Secretary?
I feel sorry for any teacher these days…