Next year, we will all be teaching bible studies?

Policy & Politics

"Immediate and strict compliance."

It is one thing to read about it. It is something else entirely to actually watch a public official mandate his Christianity as the official state religion. The plan is to fire any teacher who won't teach his Christian bible, and it is naïve to assume this same mandate will not be rolled out across the nation next year, without recourse:

Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Education Ryan Walters on PBSNewsHour

Personally, I think it inevitable. They own our legislators and courts. They already have exerted enough control over election officials to swing the next election, regardless of the popular vote. These white Christian nationalists are going to drag the nation back into the early twentieth century, and even those who will suffer under their rule are embracing the insanity with open arms.

in Teachersby MightyMississippi

4.1K

86%

TLom20

2.5K

8th Grade| Science| NJ

POV - You’re 49th in Education and really want the 50th spot

afterwash

756

I will be glad to set up a Christian school in America, somewhere deep within the Bible Belt. . . .

I will then teach the Bible in part of a mandated first course of the first year, excruciatingly examining the timelines, moralities, inconsistencies, justifications, and destructions of civilisations and history in the wake of Abrahamic religions sweeping across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and America. How Asia, South America and Africa are the last toeholds of religions, and how missionaries are conducting reverse-evangelic missions from Africa into Europe and North America.

I will therefore claim religious taxation exemptions, education exemptions, and make sure that this course is only taught in the second half of the year so that parents will not find out till they've paid the full year's tuition. Non-refundable, of course.

I will ensure that these schools will proliferate, and make sure to take a strong anti-religious stance in tuition material only, with Brothers and Sisters on-site that actually are resident doctors and nurses that have agreed to historical reenactments that in no way claim or insist that they actually live on-site despite the ostentatious chapel that actually contains the hospital wing.

It shall be named St Helen or some sort of ironic martyr, to signify the fruitcakes sacrificing their children's souls to the Devil that is the truth and logic. May the doors to heaven and hell be firmly shut to them forever.

dudius7

547

"For English today, we'll be using the Bible as part of our media literacy analysis. Notice how the Ten Commandments and Jesus did not say anything about homosexuals? What do you think this means?"

"Alright, now transitioning from media analysis and Young Earth Theory, we're going to spend Science class learning about the fossil record."

"On to History. We're going to look at how the church contributed to the genocide of indigenous peoples."

theImplication69

110

Don’t skip how homosexual was translated…I believe “soft bed boy” is a more literal translation in one instance and the other is most likely talking about not fucking your relatives (since it lists all the female relatives you shouldn’t sleep with, then mentions men as well) sort of a “oh ya don’t sleep with your male relatives either” rule

Straight_Ad3307

“After Paul’s apparent coinage of the term, most subsequent uses of it in ancient literature appear only in lists of vices. As Martin has shown, those contexts indicate that the word likely relates to sexual or economic exploitation. So while that may involve same-sex behavior, it would be exploitative forms of it, not loving relationships.”

https://reformationproject.org/case/1-corinthians-and-1-timothy/amp/

Upstairs_Fig_3551

Most scholars don’t think Paul wrote Timothy

FWIW

jenned74

Underrated comment!

ForecastForFourCats

149

My husband went to a catholic school (in Massachusetts) and got such an excellent religious studies education that he is no longer a catholic.

oliversurpless

History/ELA - Southeastern Massachusetts

Yep, much like Jimmy Dore…

“I went to Catholic school for 8 years, and my friends ask me “why aren’t you Catholic?

And I say because I went to Catholic school for 8 years?”

uju_rabbit

Heeeey it’s me! I went from wanting to become a nun in 4th grade to being totally anti-church! My name was gonna be Sister Bernadette lol

ForecastForFourCats

Sister Burn-it-down!

Gemfrancis

I was quite young when my parents forced me to go to after school bible study but I gotta say I am quite impressed with 12-14 year old me’s ability to catch and internally question some really effed up ideas presented during those “classes”.

anewbys83

A common experience with many Catholic school graduates.

Arbitrary-Fairy-777

I went to a catholic school, and most of us were no longer catholic after a while. At this point, I'm only catholic in name, but not much else.

PixelDrems

I was never given an answer by either the pastor or youth pastors at church when I asked where the cities that Cane went to while in exile for killing his brother came from. Or where the citizens that filled it came from, as the Bible states Adam and Eve were the first humans, and does not mention them having any children prior to Cane and Abel. But then there's just.. a whole city for Cane to abscond to, multiple cities

JellyfishWoman

I once asked, 'if Adam and Eve only had sons how did those sons have families?" I actually got an answer from one person who told me that "the sons of Adam had children with their mother, Eve.'

i-want-bananas

I think it does say somewhere "and then Adam and Eve had more sons and daughters" so I guess it depends on which type of incest you see as less icky

PixelDrems

So what you're saying is if humanity started off any more inbread we'd be a sandwich, by Biblical history

SenecaTheBother

https://youtu.be/SD4j5jftBZk?si=4x21Xy7rw7sUdI60

Scholar Dan McLellan. Honestly the whole channel is great.

TL;DR It was written separately and later attached to to the creation story. And Nod means wandering. So it was an origin story of Canaanites. Cain=Canaan. They are pastoralists, hence the wandering, and Cain having to wander.

gelastes

In my country, religion is still a school subject, up to around 7th grade, a relic of times before separation of church and state was a thing. Parents can decide over their kids attending but if they do, it's a subject like any other, with grades and tests.

As an atheist, I'm all for it. It means that if you are a believer, you get your religious education from people who have studied Bible criticism at a public university and who have sworn an oath on our constitution. It sounds backwards but imo it works and it is one of our strongest vaccines against a return of crackpot Christianity.

nickalit

If only that were the intent! There's a lot of fascinating stuff to learn from the collection of literature we call 'the bible', but taking it literally instead of metaphorically totally misses the point. Crackpot christianity is an apt phrase for our current crop of loonies.

dacoopbear

50 out of 50, what could be better than that?

IronManTim

Former HS Math teacher, CA, now technical trainer, WI

Is DC included in the count? If so, they could be 51 out of 51.

Morella_xx

The higher the number, the better, right?

dacoopbear

Of course. This isn't golf

sharkbait_oohaha

Georgia HS STEM

Highest is the best!

eearthchild

It’s like golf! 🏌️

Ihatethecolddd

335

Seems silly that they don’t trust me to pick books but trust me to teach something as important as their religion. Feels easy to fuck it up if you aren’t a believer, or hell, even if you do believe.

SparxIzLyfe

The whole reason we made a big deal out of taking Bible/Christian teachings out of schools historically was because one type of Christianity was being taught that another group of Christians didn't agree with. Catholic parents felt like Protestant teachers and admin were training their kids to reject Catholicism.

Even Christians don't want this. They just think they do. It's going to cause problems when concepts like whether baptism is needed for salvation, or if it's salvation + sinning, or just salvation alone, once saved always saved, or you get saved repeatedly get thrown around and parents realize that the teachings in their kids' church, school, and home don't match up.

Sure. For now, they'll try to stick to just the Biblical stories without a detailed doctrine, but that won't last. They don't think these things through.

LotusVibes1494

You may have to do like a “Dumbledore’s army” kinda thing where you secretly teach them how to fight back and overthrow the oppressors

NiceGuyJoe

It is extremely easy to fuck it up. Only the Quakers didn’t

jimmycurry01

1.2K

If they insist that I teach it, I'll teach it, but they won't like the way I teach it.

I promise the last thing they want is a middle-aged gay atheist teaching Bible studies to my classes.

Disastrous-Focus8451

374

Actually, they probably want that, because then they can fire you for not teaching it "properly".

td1439

240

MS English

fire? hell it won’t take long before it’s summary execution on the spot. all justified by an official act.

ChewieBearStare

And since they have immunity for their official acts, they won't even get in trouble!

dkf295

And since the people voting for these clowns aren’t gay atheists they won’t speak up when they come for you! Or when they come for the next person from a group they don’t like! I think there’s a famous quote in there somewhere…

techleopard

Honestly, I see somebody getting a nice settlement from this when it gets deemed discrimination and wrongful termination shortly after being declared unconstitutional.

iris_that_bitch

the supreme court is filled with people who were chosen to want this outcome. That it not going to happen.

techleopard

They don't want this outcome because what follows is the right to teach any religion of choice in class and a whole domino effect of public organizations doing whatever the hell they want.

It's all fun and games until you're the "wrong kind of Christian."

PineappleSlices

You assume that the increasingly biased and partisan Supreme Court is going to apply the law consistently.

Litty-In-Pitty

You are not watching what is happening closely enough if this is what you think… We are very very likely months away from a full blown Christian fascist takeover. None of the current laws or processes are going to matter any more. The world we live in changed forever yesterday.

techleopard

No, I am. And I agree, we are.

I'm talking about what comes after. It's going to shatter the unity of the GOP and if we have any hope of cobbling the US government back together, it'll be then. I'm basing the following opinions on what I've personally see as a Christian with a lot of exposure to various other faiths.

Mormons are every Evangelical's BFF right now because they have the money and the power to push through just about any generic Christian fascist BS that appeals to everyone -- however, they also favor laws that will put all other Protestants and the Orthodoxy under their boot. They do not like these "others" in their spaces, and the moment they have the power to expel them, they will. I mean that quite literally: not identifying "properly" is going to make it impossible to operate businesses or even buy real estate near Mormon territories and you sure as shit are not going to be able to question how they do things.

I can also assure you that the Prosperity churches, such as the Southern Baptists (yeah, they deny they are a prosperity religion but they totally are), are going to go to war with the progressive churches, like Methodists and NDs, and likely even the Catholic church. The latter are honestly going to swing left, especially on economic, educational, and social justice issues.

All the people currently comprising "the religious right" are going to be at each other's throats a few years into a Christian fascist regime.

DreamTryDoGood

MS Science | KS, USA

Oh nooo, people who aren’t Mormon won’t be able to do business in Utah or parts of Missouri /s.

Honestly, the non-denominational evangelicals are the ones clearly doing the taking over, and there are a lot of them. And they have friends among a lot of the Reformed denominations. Methodists and Catholics can’t really be counted to unite and stand firm. They’re wasting time fighting among themselves. And the UCC and Unity churches are too small. And they’re too closely aligned with UU which won’t stand a chance against the Evangelicals.

MightyMississippi

If you watch the video, you will hear Walters say that they are monitoring instruction and will punish anyone found not teaching with sufficient religious zeal and fervor.

useless_ivory

How well do they currently monitor instruction of core subjects? Teachers should definitely be careful, but education initiatives don't have a great track record in my experience.

Jbroy

Problem will be the kids of religious fucktards that’ll tell their parents how the teacher is teaching the bible and then it’ll create a huge scene….

Hatta00

This isn't an education initiative. It's an indoctrination initiative. The zealots behind it will monitor it with zeal.

Korzag

The party of small government introducing more layers of government.

grumble11

They want you to mess up. They are looking to cleanse non-compliant teachers.

PhantomdiverDidIt

They will have fun trying to hire replacements.

actuallycallie

former preK-5 music, now college music

you assume they want qualified replacements. they don't. they just want puppets.

Chunklob

pretty soon the church will start to certify teachers. Who needs the department of education?

actuallycallie

former preK-5 music, now college music

They're trying to get rid of the DoE so....🤷‍♀️

Faustus_Fan

Dean of Students

Exactly. Anyone who thinks this isn't a long-developed plan with contingencies upon contingencies built in hasn't been paying attention. The GQP is trying, desperately, to not only dismantle the DOE, but the entire apparatus of democratic government. This is a coup, pure and simple.

If Democrats don't start fighting back hard and using every fucking trick in the book to restore sanity, we are utterly doomed as a country.

feverously

They actually want to abolish public schools altogether. That’s why child labor is legal now in Iowa. Setting the rest of the country up to follow suit.

Gemfrancis

Exactly. They’ll take any religious psychopath off the street, hand them a bible and push them into the classroom. They don’t care.

TranslatorNo8445

It's all part of project 2025. Puppets who will dismantle the entire country and build it back as a Christian nationalist country they are well on their way with the Supreme Court already installed. The education system is definitely going to be dismantled, and all of the dissenters removed. All they need is Trump to win and it's over .

Tall_Heat_2688

Exactly. The will cleanse anyone that doesn’t teach the rhetoric gleefully.

CaptainChats

The thing is that the Bible has a lot of very interesting historical, theoretical, and political elements in it.

You could talk about how the God of the Old Testament was a regional deity that was part of a much larger pantheon. That god was originally foreign to what is now modern day Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria through population migration and/or violent invasion. Once established, the chief deity of that pantheon was emphasized by the state while other deities were minimized as a means of centralizing power around the temple of Jerusalem.

Or you could teach that Jesus was a radical who preached against the rigid class structure and wealthy elites in his society. In the earlier books of the New Testament Jesus refers to himself not as the son of God but rather as “the son of man”. I’ve read interpretations that see this as a rejection of the class system of Judea at the time. Society was organized by familial association, so you’d be know as “Jimmy son of Johnny the magistrate” or whatever your dad did. This was basically how the pecking order would be established. Referring to everyone as “a son of man” would be a rejection of this class structure. Early Christian sects were less hierarchical and some were communal. Basically, Jesus preached for equality and a rejection of consolidating wealth and the wealthy and powerful killed him for it.

Odds are that you won’t get that in the curriculum though. I went to a Catholic School and all the interesting scholarship surrounding Christian history and philosophy was mysteriously absent.

jimmycurry01

I cover some of my ideas on how I would go about teaching it if pressed in a response to another comment here

the_owl_syndicate

That's my thought too. The last thing they want is a lifelong atheist and lesbian to teach the bible.

phillyphanatic35

I’m excited to see the creative malicious compliance that comes of it

jerrys153

“Now class, let’s open up our bibles to Ezekiel, chapter 23, verse 20.”

These conservatives really haven’t thought this thing through. It’s almost like they don’t know what’s actually in the bible…I mean they have read it, right? Right?

HerringWaffle

Narrator: They had not, in fact, read it.

Gonna be a lot of questions about concubines and bitter waters and incest.

DireNine

Is that the donkey dick story?

Competitive_Bonus792

I think I’d quite enjoy being your student.

I don’t have the guts to teach like that. I’m starting student teaching in the fall so I have little autonomy in what I’ll be teaching and how I’ll teach it.

Middle_Management_11

As someone who went to Catholic school I will tell you that this is a surefire way to make people no longer support Christianity.

HOWEVER

That was the '90s. I don't think that's true anymore. The goal is to get kids as young as possible because they are malleable and they will not question things. I questioned things because I was surrounded by a world that was not Catholic and was not saying these same things. My parents also did not 100% agree with the teachings. But I think in these places where this stuff will become required by law, you don't have families like that. You don't have communities like that. These kind of moves will have a lot of support because the places where they are happening are going to become more deeply Christian and they will continue to be that way because they continue to groom the kids to be that way. If they can create an in-group, they can keep out everyone else and guarantee that they create the next generation. That's the goal

CrazyGooseLady

Getting kids as young as possible. Yes, that checks out. How many people know that the Pledge did not contain the words "under God" until the 1950s? A kid in kinder thinks that it has always been lime this.

Alive_Panda_765

1.2K

As a product of 12 years of Catholic school, I can tell you there’s no better recipe for creating atheists than mandated religion classes.

These measures are not intended to create “good Christians” (whatever that means), but rather are intended to put up a sign that says “not welcome” to anyone who might believe something different than the majority. The Republicans lost the statues of their revered defenders of slavery, so this is their newest ways of pissing on trees.

EccentricAcademic

336

For real... Almost every atheist I've met got there by reading the Bible independently. It pushed me out of faith when I was really questioning. These guys do NOT want to give me carte blanche to talk on theology. It's an area I've studied and I do have contrary positions lol.

PeaceDolphinDance

135

Ex-ELA, Current L&D Professional 👨‍🏫

Atheist here who read the Bible front to back multiple times as a young fundamentalist. 🙋‍♂️

FloatingPooSalad

131

Father’s a minister and headmaster, I attended his parochial school for k-8th.

The constant study of the Bible definitely pushed me into realizing it was nonsense.

I teach public school science and math now and couldn’t be more shocked the dumbing down of the electorate has worked so well.

Solopist112

"Today in science class we be discussing Noah's Ark."

P4intsplatter

I had an atheist friend who liked math. Like, really liked math.

He calculated the buoyancy of the Ark based on regional woods (multiple times, and in different proportions) and generously used salt water for the solution. Then he took the average weight of a ton of different animals, multiplied by two, added the weight of "Noah's family" and proved they all drowned in the flood.

He then submitted this to his Chem teacher to make up for not doing the (super easy) daily homeworks all semester lol. I think in the lab report writeup he did, he basically argued the Aquatic Ape Theory and saud we're all actually descendants of mermaids

rdickeyvii

Pull his equations out when someone asks "why should I care about this? When will I ever use it?"

FloatingPooSalad

Edit: my joke was lame compared to yours

… lol

ThatOnePickleLord

I was in a program for a summer in a period of time where I was religious but doubting and wanting to hold onto my faith. I liked the idea of finding myself through Christ instead of on my own. I was reading for hours a day to try and make sense of how it fit together. I realized that it just didn't make sense. There were too many things about myself that I couldn't or didn't want to rectify to fit the stereotypical "christian" archetype that this program really wanted to develop. I spent a lot of time talking to my pastor and he said that I was too smart for my own good, at the end of the program I was honest and said that that lifestyle was not for me and I was going to pursue higher education instead. I do think it was part of my character development but I'm happier exploring my gender with friends who encourage it instead of being told to read the bible

strawbery_fields

I read it in high school, and it took me about four years. The only time I refer to it now is as the “longest book” I’ve ever read. 4/10 don’t recommend except for Job (reads exactly like an ancient drama) and the sex poems in Song of Solomon.

PeaceDolphinDance

Ex-ELA, Current L&D Professional 👨‍🏫

Those sex poems really are something else.

God I would have fun teaching the Bible. I feel like these laws aren’t going to be able to work because of how impossible it will be to implement (I hope).

pebspi

Regarding how they’re going to be overseeing it, I am cautiously optimistic that this will fall through. It sounds like they can’t even manage the teaching rules and regulations that are already there

gooboyjungmo

In fact, most of the Christians I know have only read selected bits and pieces of the Bible 🤣

PeaceDolphinDance

Ex-ELA, Current L&D Professional 👨‍🏫

I know an astounding number of very dedicated Christians so I definitely know many who have read all of the scriptures, but it’s a tiny minority overall.

NarcanPusher

12 years a Christian. Read maybe 10(?) pages. I remember a lot of “begets”.

Low_Establishment434

I was raised catholic. By second grade i started having my doubts. Then in 8th grade 9/11 happened and i lost my uncle. I was out on religion after that. I dont like saying im an atheist lol

RodolfoSeamonkey

Most of the theology professors at my undergrad were atheists.

cheechaw_cheechaw

Not even because it's bad... just reading the teachings of Jesus (they're great!) and then seeing how Christians act (not like Christ !) is enough to put you off Christianity

DLIPBCrashDavis

Devoted Christian here; I can completely see how atheism wow grow due to mandatory Bible studies. If they make us put the Ten Commandments on the wall here is Texas, I was going to let other religions put stuff on the wall as well. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech.

Any_Cartographer631

Yeah wait until the Satanic Temple catches wind of this lol! Gonna be fun times!

DLIPBCrashDavis

Very true. There was already an uproar about them reading an opening prayer before a Michigan board meeting.

Excellent-Source-497

I'm also a Christian and totally opposed to it becoming a state religion. This legislation is crazy.

Purple-flying-dog

Fellow Catholic school-bred atheist here. Agreed.

this_shit

Problem is that the Catholics have an intellectual theological tradition that at least passes logical scrutiny on first glance. They've asked the hard questions and attempted answers.

The current christian nationalist movement is not concerned with theology, there is no value other than blind obedience to power, even in the face of directly contradictory commands from jesus himself.

Faustus_Fan

Dean of Students

even in the face of directly contradictory commands from jesus himself.

One religious hill I am willing to die on is that evangelical Christians actually hate what Jesus stood for.

NotRadTrad05

They've asked the hard questions and attempted answers.

Not that most people have read it, but this was the main approach St. Thomas Aquinas took, and he nailed it.

nicktoberfest

Social Studies

I think by good Christians they mean a man who cheats on his third wife with a pornstar. Extra points if she is at home with his recently born son.

Feeling_Proposal_350

Could we add lies, cheats, steals, and covets his own daughter?

Feeling_Tower9384

There is a balm in Gilead.

_saidwhatIsaid

Random, but when I was a Christian and went to church as a kid, I thought they were singing "there is a *B💣MB *in Gilead" and I was so confused

hoodiemeerkat

13 years of Catholic school, and I couldn’t agree more. Religion loses its spirituality when you turn it into a mandatory school subject. These old farts won’t listen though.

RChickenMan

Same. Going to a Catholic high school caused me to actively resent religion, authority, and dress clothes.

FoxFireLyre

405

I will actively not teach the Bible if made to do so. I would make them fire me. And honestly, I’d welcome it. Feels like the sort of thing you’d be able to sue over.

translostation

247

This seems silly in a circumstance that so obviously calls for malicious compliance. I'll gladly teach the Bible; we'll start with Lot's daughters...

rigbysgirl13

129

Abraham and Sarah were half siblings. That should go over well.

translostation

Just wait until my lesson on Biblical Textual Criticism, Hermeneutics, and how we know it was not "written by God himself"

User deleted comment

translostation

Another classic vibe

IowaJL

Hey I’m a music teacher! It has “songs” right in the title!

moleratical

11| IB HOA/US Hist| Texas

Alright class, today's lesson is incest, rape, and killing your neighbor because he found the charred scent of a sacrificial ox displeasing.

The god of love commanded it.

heathercs34

I mean, Adam and eve’s kids would have had to have sex with each other to proliferate humanity.

juhesihcaa

Parent

"Today's lesson will be about hallucinogenics and how Moses saw a burning bush"

pineapple_rodent

You mean Abram and Sarai?? Since we MUST be calling everyone by their birth names.

Koto65

Who's ejaculate was that of a donkey's?

snackpack3000

I know there's some horse jizz in Ezekiel 23:20. It's mentioned right before the "breast fondling".

Koto65

That might be it depending on the version of the bible. But then again it might be two separate equine jizz passages.

Shecoagoh

Intermediate | Special Education | Chicago, USA

There’s several portions on female cleanliness. I was unfortunate enough to have that as my portion for my bat mitzvah. I’d love to start on the insane female cleanliness during period rules and how to rid your home of leprosy.

Own-Ambassador-3537

Yall are going to be essential in the fight against these nut cases. Stay with us you are needed

emu4you

Excellent strategy!

Purple-flying-dog

I’d almost hope they would fire me because I’d love to sue, make national headlines, and fix this shit. However I have no faith in our current court system.

MightyMississippi

You're the second one to propose this. From what I now understand, government officials now enjoy qualified immunity from civil litigation, thanks to this current Supreme Court and its recent appointees. However, and also due to recent Court rulings, government officials can accept bribes—provided they refer to them as gratuities, and take them after providing a requested service. Your goal then becomes bribing this man in order to forward policy in a way that respects the rights and liberties of all citizens equally—you know, as he is supposed to do for free, because that is his job, ostensibly.

berrikerri

I have a feeling it’s coming to Florida, too. Although I am curious how they’d like me to fit bible study into my high school geometry course 🤷‍♀️ they can fire me, too, I’m not teaching it.

fireduck

Isn't there something about a tree being 1 cubit across and 3 cubits around, so pi = 3? You can work that in.

berrikerri

Lmao perfect

Geeky_Girl_1

I've got my copy of The Skeptic's Annotated Bible and I'm ready to teach!

rdrunner_74

Just quit before you reach the SCOTUS

ApathyKing8

My district has two bible stories in our curriculum. We're required to teach 60% of the reading list, so we just ignore it for now.

But we sometimes see biblical stories, allegories, and metaphors on the state test.

futureformerteacher

HS Science/Coach

You do realize that the majority federal judiciary in this country is ultra-right wing Trumpists, right?

snacksnsmacks

Missed opportunity to instill critical thinking values in the kids. Have them read the passages Christians overlook or deliberately ignore. Ask reading comprehension questions that allow kids to consider contradictions between modern ideas of what is or isn't ethical. Place cause and effect with historical timelines, discuss tyranny, genocide, hypocrisy and draw modern comparisons on a global scale.

Could bring some individual thought out of an attempt to create blind followers.

Tall_Heat_2688

You really think if they’re forcing you to teach bible in school you’ll have a case to sue if they fire you over it? Come on now.

illhaveafrench75

What’s crazy to me is that these are the same people who say that we are indoctrinating students for putting a rainbow flag in our room, but are okay with shoving the Bible down unconsenting students throats. The cognitive dissonance is real.

If I were a student learning about the Bible it would make me hate religion even more. Do they really think that they’re going to get through to students who don’t believe in God? I would tune that shit out.

HedonismIsTheWay

Like someone else said, it's not necessarily about trying to make sure more people learn/believe. It's about telling the people who don't believe that they're not welcome. Telling them that they are lesser. If it recruits a few kids who cling to it for comfort, that's just a bonus.

Upbeat-Willingness40

Jesus, what I wouldn’t have given to see a rainbow flag in one of my classrooms growing up. A safe space in a sea of uncertainty.

Zimithrus

What ever happened to separation of church and state? 🤔

MightyMississippi

Walters says we are all a bunch of uninformed crazies who just made that up.

Due-Project-8272

286

This, along with the Ten Commandments, is blatantly unconstitutional, and they know this. They want the lawsuits, because they know when it gets up to SCOTUS, they'll be given a 6-3 ruling in their favor.

Ihatethecolddd

158

They also get to create “enemies” of Christianity by making non-Christians fight against this. Christianity thrives when it thinks it’s being suppressed.

warumistsiekrumm

This. They can motivate people with feelings of being persecuted.

grumble11

I’m not sure you guys really have a constitution if the Supreme Court can just decide to interpret it however is convenient without actually caring if the interpretation is well founded

Silent-Indication496

The big secret that everyone knows is this:

Our government and constitution are complete bullshit. There is no objective, correct way to assign, enforce, and interpret laws. The politicians and justices are just making it up as they go. They have their own goals, such as getting reelected, getting paid, or improving conditions for some group they care about, but they are just making the rest up.

Over time, members of the government have tried to set standards for how things are done, and often those standards are followed, but whenever the standards get in the way of achieving goals, they just bend, break, or change the rules anyway.

As voters, we have little more than the illusion of participation. The politicians decide who we vote on, how our votes are counted, and whether they are even going to consider them or not.

This is not a by-the-people-for-the-people government. It's a powerful corrupt fraternity that creates the rules for how the rest of us are allowed to live our lives.

hazyoblivion

Walters says it in the interview. "Trump put originalists on the SC so we'll be fine"

Silent-Indication496

I think the Supreme Court will overturn this law. However, in doing so, I believe they will also relax the legal requirement for secularism in charter schools.

It looks like they are using this legal stunt to have religious charter schools recognized and funded by the taxpayer.

It seems the ultimate goal is to replace public education with private charter schools, then gradually reduce the government assistance that these schools get to put the cost of education back on individual families.

b_moz

MS Music Director | CA

If you read the 2025 plan education section, one you will be very frustrated, two you will see they don’t care about education/children, three a lot of what you said will be accurate.

Oddessusy

142

Ezekiel 23:20 (NIV): "There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses."

Get students to memorise that one.

In fact get all the woeful sections of the bible.

paradockers

There's so many horrifying umnentionable things that could be read out of the good Ol' king James Bible. I can't even list them here without being potentially banned. Kids really, really don't like mandates. There will be a number of kids who see right through these mandates for what they really are: authoritarianism.

ccaccus

5th Grade | ELA

For good measure, discuss King James himself, and his many, many boyfriends.

ittybittycitykitty

All this is going to do, should the black blanket of theocracy fall, is that only specified verses may be taught. Next, of course, is the King Donald's version, with those evile out-dated King James and the like versions to be destroyed.

Blusterpug

Not just fire teachers but strip us of our teaching license so that we can never work again.

But this pales in comparison to all the other five alarm fires happening in this country. How can we fight it all?

poppinchips

🍰

We vote. It's all we can do. And if that doesn't work, then we're fucked pretty much.

feelingfroggy1970

Should be interesting, come August. Walters sent the mandate out via a memo. I was not hired to teach the Bible. I have students of all beliefs. One family believes that the Duggars are Saints, another is atheist, and I have a child that is gay.

I also have my own beliefs and will not be teaching for or against them because that is not my job.

I just can't wait for the beginning of the year PD meetings to go over this.

Mister_Magnus42

167

I would actively teach the offensive stuff. Incest, forced circumcision of enemies...

KurtisMayfield

I would teach every socialist anti capitalist quotes of Jesus and the apostles until they fire me.

Matthew 19-24

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

emerald_green_tea

This is the way. Malicious compliance. Teach the terrible stuff. Make them regret their decision to enforce them.

Unfortunately getting fired and suing right now is probably not a great option with the current political climate and conservative Supreme Court.

EccentricAcademic

Forced circumcision THEN betraying them and slaughtering them while they recover from being circumcised. All because one of them wanted to marry your sister, ims.

translostation

All because one of them wanted to marry your sister, ims.

There's quite a bit more to it than that, including rape. But sure.

Hydra680

We can maliciously comply and teach why the Bible is bullshit. I'm sure students would get a kick out of the "emissions of donkeys" part Or how Lot was raped by his daughters

skwerlgrl

Don’t sugar coat anything. Teach them to analyze each and every sentence down to every word if necessary. Hell, do it all day long. They’ll be expert critical thinkers and be able to out debate any future assholes such as those mandating this nonsense.

AlkalineSublime

That’s honestly what I’m thinking. I’m not a teacher but, this sub pops up in my feed and like to read the discussions here. You’re all obviously a smart bunch, just simply by virtue of the fact that you’re teachers if nothing else. I’m confident you’ll find a way to handle this. It’s creepy as hell, but until we can fix this, just take it a day at a time and keep talking to each other. I appreciate you all.

Adept-Roof-5377

I’m a Christian. I will use a Bible verse that is against forced worship.

Mathew 6 6-7 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

It continues on not to babble on like pagans and seem crazy in the public of people who are not aware.

You can introduce my God to people but forcing is obviously not condoned by my God. I disagree with this, I am not for this, and I am a Christian.

Please church and state should be separate and on a more personal level come to me about God and I will answer all I can about my faith. (Obviously not children without parental consent because I respect a parent’s right to give their child beliefs.)

ComfyCouchDweller

Lot offered his daughters to the Soddomites then later his daughters got him drunk and essentially raped him, so…

TheSouthsideSlacker

Make them fire you and join the lawsuit. Do not quit.

MinimumApricot365

You have an ethical obligation to violate this law. Make them fire you for it and sue for religious discrimination/wrongful termination. DO NOT LET THEM PUT RELIGIOUS INDOCTRINATION IN YOUR CLASSROOM.

gvuio

Retired in June. I am so happy I am out of education.

plasticbuttons04

Bring in a copy of the satanic bible. “What? You didn’t specify”

Practical_Reindeer23

Vote blue up and down the ticket. If trump wins, we're all screwed. So vote.

thescaryhypnotoad

A couple of months before the election double check that you haven’t been purged from the voter list too!

Practical_Reindeer23

Yes good advice. I just got my new voter registration card in the mail and had already checked my name on the voting list.

tn00bz

The polarization of the states is absolutely mindblowing. Here in California we now have a mandated Ethnic Studies class, which is a fine idea on paper, but has been implemented terribly. It has a strong left wing bias at best, and straight up conspiracy theories at worst. And meanwhile, red states are pushing this religious crap.

I don't want to be the mouthpiece of any religious or political parties. I just want to teach regular non politicized bs. I don't ever want to tell kids what to think. I'd rather teach them how to think and let them come to their own conclusions. Teaching should never be state propoganda.

TheRealPhoenix182

Nobody can make anyone do anything. Everyone has agency, especially in this country thanks to our (currently fragile and fleeting) focus on individual rights and freedoms.

Refuse.

Most they can reasonably do is fire you, then you get to sue. If enough do that, all the schools will close, and the governments will go broke. That means all the board members and office holders in those departments also lose their jobs. Then the people demand the schools open again, new people get put into positions of authority, and the course is corrected. It will suck during it, but thats too bad.

If things ever escalate beyond that (lynchings, etc) it will galvanize action against them and they'll be removed (from power if not from life) by those of us that swore that oath and take it seriously.

But if people wont refuse...if they value job over integrity, if they value non-violence and non-resistance over morality and reason, well then thats their right and their choice...but they dont get to complain about what they end up with then.

No one is entitled to freedom and peace. No one is entitled to your job your way. Such things are won through sacrifice and endurance and steadfast devotion to reason and ethics...theyre bought with hunger and blood and life itself. They require doing hard things...distastful things. Our forefathers knew it, and paid that price for us. Its up to us to pay again for those who come after. If we wont, then we're accepting the alternative and lose the right to complain about it.

AFLoneWolf

They conveniently forgot freedom of religion also means freedom FROM religion.

Faustus_Fan

Dean of Students

The worst part about this is that they know this is 100% unconstitutional. They know that they aren't legally supposed to be doing this.

They don't care. They know lawsuits will come and a state-level judge will strike down the law. They are counting on it. They designed this whole process so they can end up in front of SCOTUS. They know that the six conservatives on SCOTUS are bought and paid for, so they are doing as much as possible, as fast as possible, to get these cases declared "constitutional" before the elders (Alito, Thomas, Roberts) potentially shuffle off this mortal coil. If they can get all of their bullshit, fascist laws approved by Trump's court before a Democratic president has the chance to rebalance the court, they will have won.

This is just one arm of a many-armed plan to reshape our country into one run by the Christian Taliban.

Lunar_Lilac_Libra

I am Christian, and I believe in God and the Bible. I still will not teach it in my class. I am not a preacher, and it has no place in my classroom.

Tinkerfan57912

Well, I am not qualified to to teach Bible Studies as I never took that class and my CCD education from laypeople was a long time ago and got me through the sacraments. I would invite my priest and the nuns who attend my church to teach it. See how fast they change that requirement when Catholics are involved.

Camero466

See if you can get a Dominican. They will unimpeachable academic credentials and would probably do it for free, or perhaps for the price of transportation alone.

Trotsky2224

Teach the Christian bible. Especially the parts full of mass death, rape, selling of slaves, sacrificing children, taking multiple wives…teach all the inaccuracies. They opened a lot of doors.

Pinkladysslippers

Job Title | Location

I don’t know how I’d find time. The chemistry curriculum is a beast to get through (with kids actually learning) as it is.

I am religious but in my mind sharing much beyond that statement makes kids feel excluded rather than included in my class. Once again folks with no concept of pedagogy are dictating what happens in our classrooms. It’s a shame.

Dragonfruit_60

We won’t be able to just teach what we want from the Bible. It’ll be a program, designed for indoctrination. We’ll spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on these programs, and there will be some asshole that comes to “train” us. It’s not going to be ok. We’re not going to be able to malicious compliance our way out of this.

Sarabean77

First of all, this basically opens the door for any and all religions to require their teachings to be done in public schools and that includes Satanism. Second of all, you are your own person and can simply refuse to teach it and sue the state. That is always an option.

Please don't follow along with this insanity if you teach in a state like this

TeacherWithOpinions

project 2025 in full swing

Panda-Jazzlike

Funny thing is, the guy that started Christianity, the Jesus fellow, refuted the majority of the bible. He then went on to say NOTHING about gay people and everything about being a good and welcoming neighbor. He then walked the talk. If you weed out Christian teachings to what came out of the horse’s mouth, it is more like a pamphlet. I will teach that. And maybe wear a tshirt that says Jesus loves everyone (even the gays).

Kavinsky12

Students don't need to know English, math, science, social studies. They need to know the batshit inanity of the magic book.

ahumblethief

I'd love to say that this cannot hold up in court. But these days.... who knows?

Teach the parts they like to ignore. Or call their bluff and refuse to comply. Idk. I'm glad I live where I live.

puledrotauren

So we're just ignoring the Bill of Rights now? Piss off with the first amendment but fully support the second one?

Puzzleheaded-Phase70

I suggest studying the worst, grossest, most sexual parts of the Bible, and/or all the most socialist parts and compare and contrast with current events and politics.

kevinsyel

If I were a teacher, who was FORCED to teach the Bible, I would teach all of the conflicting messages within the bible. I would teach how the Old Testament specifically condones abortions and even instructs how to do it. I would heavily teach sections about the Anti-Christ from Revelations, in particular how all the imagery about the Anti-Christ can apply DIRECTLY to Trump and his followers. I would Teach how Jesus said to Love Thy Neighbors and make an assignment to go through the synoptic gospels and find Jesus' stance on LGBTQ people (spoiler, he doesn't mention them at all, ONLY to treat your neighbors with respect).

I would use the Bible as a weapon to attack and denigrate the Christian Nationalists destroying our country.

Classic_Season4033

9-12 Math/Sci Alt-Ed | Michigan

The fastest way to turn a believer into an atheist is to have them read the Bible cover to cover.

It won't end well for Oklahoma Christians.

GitLegit

This will surely help the teacher shortage.

Cinerea_A

"The plan is to fire any teacher who won't teach his Christian bible, and it is naïve to assume this same mandate will not be rolled out across the nation next year, without recourse"

Press X to doubt.

glimmer_of_hope

This will happen if Trump gets re-elected.

DangerousInjury2548

Texas here I’m sure we’re next. Ain’t gonna do it. This is the way education dies.

WilliamoftheBulk

They would not want me to be teaching about the bible. As teachers we have an obligation to teach the truth.

MissDryCunt

Just cherry-pick the most disgusting, nastiest shit in that book and watch the parents and administrators lose their minds 🥰

migueljosecool

As a shop teacher, I look forward to the opportunity to have my students build crucifixes and other grim reminders of ancient barbarism to display around school grounds. Jesus was the son of a carpenter, after all.

snackorwack

Have these folks really thought this through? There is so much $$ to be lost in this endeavor. Who will want to send their children to private Evangelical Christian schools if public schools are Christian and teach the Bible as historical fact? Why bother with church if the teachings of said church are literally everywhere? The Christian schools in every part of the country I have lived in (Northwest, South, Southwest) all attract families who want to ensure their own values are taught to the kids, not the demonic, liberal, queer agenda that they are so sure is in control of public schools. They outright push the idea that the only way to keep kids pure and on the right track is to send them to Bible-focused school.

jolly_rodger42

I hope this results in the courts getting jammed up with lawsuits for decades.

Krock011

Go vote

teacherdrama

You would have one less teacher here. I would quit the second I was told to do that.

paintballteacher

I’m contracted to teach the Oklahoma core standards. So unless it’s specifically mentored in the state mandated written standards, I’m not obligated to teach the Bible.

He’s just doing this for the publicity and the lawsuits that will come from it. I’m not too concerned with it.

Yet.

Joshua_Todd

Time to start working on some Deuteronomy inspired math problems

Buffal-o-gal

Sure! Let’s talk about David and 200 Philistine foreskins.

pearlspoppa1369

As a Language Arts teacher I would be sure to put “Inherit the Wind” into my syllabus.

kafkaesque_deli

Pretty sure Jesus taught about how the rich were the real enemies of the people, and to accept foreigners with open arms.