- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmings.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmings.world
Required readings would include passages from Old and New Testament for students in middle school
The conservative-majority Texas State Board of Education is considering adding at least 15 passages from the Bible to a required reading list as part of English lessons in public schools – the latest push from conservatives to implement Christianity into school curriculums.
Beginning in middle school, Texas students could be forced to read stories from the Bible including Jonah and the Whale, David and Goliath, and Lamentations 3 in addition to passages such as The Definition of Love from the New Testament, according to the list reported by the New York Times.
The new proposed changes have raised concerns from advocacy groups and academics who believe the changes will teach children a one-sided history lesson and “indoctrinate” students.
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Well maybe this will do something to increase their reading levels. And as they say, one of the best ways to lose your Christian faith is to read the Bible.
Yes, a lot of Christians never read it and just assume it is full of profound wisdom. If fact, it is mostly boring bullshit that hasn’t aged well. People are used to better writing nowadays, and even children today are less ignorant about the nature of the world than the average adult from the period when the Bible was being written.
It. Is. Soooop boring. And vague. There’s a reason an entire priesthood exists to elaborate on and interpret it.
Ezekiel 23:20
There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
It’s not all boring!
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
And
Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them.
It’s not all boring!
Too much kink-shaming though.
Omg yes. I had an AP English teacher, who is an atheist, but felt like snippets of it had relevance to the other literature we were reading and the few bits I read completely turned me away from it.
Granted, one of the chapters was literally and (name) begat (name) who begat (name), and I was genuinely baffled by how one could read such a dryyyyy medium.
Also, it didn’t help that God seemed like such a jealous Zeus type. It’s hard to be on God’s side when humans do human things like, long for a home that’s forever lost, etc.
Less than 10% of surveyed Christians have read 🙄 The Greatest Story Ever Told
They’ll start with sanitized versions of select excerpts and build up tolerance and indoctrination.
Yeah, this isn’t going to be a free-for-all. Little Suzy isn’t going to be able to write an essay on any part she chooses. This will just be bringing Sunday school into public schools. Lessons that are happy and further indoctrinate, avoiding any sort of critical thinking.
Its clear their choice of old testament nonsense they don’t intend to teach them anything interesting.
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I could honestly see this backfiring in a really funny way. Not only will they actually try harder to get them to learn to read, but in my experience kids tend to hate books they are forced to read. In the setting that is church there’s more of a peer pressure from all the other kids and adults to learn the bible. In high-school/middle-school there’s peer pressure to not read the books you are supposed to read save for those that love reading. The only books I remember reading from those years are the ones I chose to read while the ones I was told to read had left my brain almost entirely by my mid 20s
Banned books are also popular.
They are probably gonna ban Quran soon if they haven’t already so double-backfire?
I dunno if that’s always the case. I still love The Phantom Tollbooth.
On the other hand, I remember being really frustrated by a phrase from another book. (I think it was “Kneeknock Rise”? I remember exactly nothing else about this book, though, so it might not be that.) It was a description of a scene, and it said the dog was asleep, “arms and legs akimbo.” Now, I was in… maybe third or fourth grade, so I had never encountered the word “akimbo” before, and asked my parents what it meant. They explained that “arms akimbo” was basically the only phrase in which it’s used, and it means having your arms out to your sides with your elbows bent and your hands on your hips. But this just confused me further, because the book said “arms and legs akimbo.” I had no idea what it was trying to describe, and could not picture it. I tried to draw a picture of what it seemed to be describing, and continued to find it baffling. My parents agreed that was odd, and suggested I talk to my teacher about it. The teacher was very dismissive, though, saying “well, obviously you’ve never had a dog, or you’d know exactly what they’re talking about.” Which…what? Why would you even say that to a curious kid? Couldn’t you at least draw a doodle of what it looks like?
So yeah, being forced to stick with a book you don’t like does leave a very strong negative impression.
Texas recently passed a law preventing books that involve sex from being in libraries. The story of Lot and his daughters, and the famous quote in Ezekiel mean the bible should be banned under that law.
Wasn’t there a ruling that the Bible is exempted because it’s “culturally important” or something?
At this point I’m surprised they haven’t started rewriting the Bible to bring it inline with their version of the faith. You know, drop the commandment about not committing adultery and swap it with “Thou shalt not abort”. Instead of Jesus feeding the masses and preaching neighborly love he says “get a job you fucking poors” and “hate the gays”. Moses frees his people with the power of the 2nd Amendment.
That would exempt basically most banned books
Naked Lunch is also culturally important.
Also Noah and his sons, and probably a whole bunch more. But god damn is it puritanical to pass such a law in [current year]
I don’t mind them reading the Bible, if they are able to read the whole thing, one end to the other. For many people, a thorough reading of the bible beginning to end is what causes them to question Christianity and realize that it is a population control tool for those with power (and riches), not the word of a God. It is such an incoherent mess that cannot literally be followed - if you follow one edict, you break another. Reading it destroys the idea that an all powerful, all knowing God was it’s roundabout creator. If there was a God surely it could have done a better job, even using inadequate humans to produce the product. So, after reading, you know it was a man made project. The Koran and Torah yield similar results. I think that is the main reason why religions try, or have tried in the past, to restrict reading to a select few leaders and try to keep the propaganda to what they want it to mean at any given time in history.
The Koran and Torah yield similar results. I think that is the main reason why religions try, or have tried in the past, to restrict reading to a select few leaders and try to keep the propaganda to what they want it to mean at any given time in history.
Regarding the Koran, your statement is verifiably false. It was widely read and memorized by the masses so that a select few leaders couldn’t control what they want it to mean.
Quite a large number of those masses, in non-Arabic-speaking countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia, memorize the Qur’an without knowing what it means, which is a piss-poor way of preventing elite capture. More effective is that fact that, in Sunni Islam, there’s no formal religious hierarchy, and each congregation operates independently (like the Christian Congregationalists used to). Though social conformity squeezes out the diversity of beliefs, and there are respected institutions and scholars such as Al-Azhar university that are widely respected, but there’s no Sunni Pope. Sufis are structured similarly. Shia’s, on the other hand, have a hierarchy of authority that puts the Catholics to shame.
Not knowing the language is a problem which doesn’t fully eliminate the issue, you’re right, but it does eliminate the possibility of changing the written scriptures. As a result there will always be thinkers who can return to the original text and come to their own conclusions, challenging the prevailing thoughts of their region or era, something that has repeatedly occurred in Muslim history.
Your claim of their statement being verifiably false is in itself verifiably false.
Their claim was the works do not inspire a belief in God (for them), and they know it was a man-made project. Since they know themselves so much better than you, they are the only ones who can give their opinion.
Yes, people memorized the Koran, Bible, Tanakh, throughout the history of each faith. However, there are many examples (legions!) of those same works (in whole or in part) being protected by a variety of sects… not one of those faiths was consistent throughout their history.
Remember, God hates liars! Don’t call others liars just because one of their points isn’t all-encompassing. Recall, they said “I think”… this means it’s an opinion. Don’t lie, Allah would be ashamed of you if He was real.
I was responding to the text I quoted, not the full post 🙄
Do you know how long and boring that is? This would be like just a dozen pages.
you really don’t need to get to the end.
But you do! The ending is the very best part, it renders everything before it into an absurdity.
It’s the punchline
Shouldn’t the bible be subject to that age verification thing that’s going around? You know, to actually protect the children.
Exactly, the Bible talks about donkey dicks and horse cum!
Also child slaughter. Some kids made fun of a dude for being bald, and god sent a bear to tear them apart. Wholesome story.
When I was a kid, my best friend’s dad liked to cite those verses when we made comments about his receding hairline.
They made fun of Elisha for being a prophet, as well as for being bald. His predecessor Elijah was said to have ascended to heaven. The kids were saying “Go on, Baldy, why don’tcha go up to heaven!”
And that’s why the naughty little fuckers got torn apart by a she-bear.
As a bald man, I approve of that message.
And if you believe that you’ll believe anything
I’m less concerned about the anatomy lesson and more about the celebration of child rape and genocide.
Didn’t The Satanic Temple do something similar to that when a bunch of book banning in schools was going around not so long ago?
Kids, there’s plenty of verses to read from if you’re called upon. Try this one first:
NIV Ezekiel 23:20 “There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.”
Or how about an abortion ritual?
Me too, thanks.
There’s a lot of….interesting sexual things in there. Anyone thinking of the children here!? 🤣
I really am tempted to walk into a bible thumping school and read every single sex related verse just for kicks. but I’m trans so chances are they would shoot me and claim I had a bomb.
I hope they study James 5…
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
I think that would make an epic face tattoo
What Would Jesus Do? Flip every fucking table on the planet.
Jesus says they are wicked, meanwhile, He promises to kill everybody on Earth who won’t bow to Him.
That’s kinda creepy, don’t you think? His promise is to be the greatest murderer of all time (again)
I was finishing elementary school in the late 1960s, in extreme right wing Anaheim, California. Twice a month, the (public) schools had something called “released time religion.” Two trailers would pull up to school, one for the Catholics and one for the Holy Rollers. The kids whose parents had signed a release would spend the afternoon learning Jesus things. The rest of us were expected to sit quietly, reflecting on our moral inadequacy for not being in the trailer.
As you might imagine, the majority of students who did go to the trailer, took umbrage at those who did not. And even then, I noted that there was nothing for the Jewish or Muslim or Hindu kids.
we had a few things like that back in the 90s when i was in HS. I went to every available one. Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan (we actually had a Wiccan club!). It got me out of class and was fun to learn about other cultures.
It is funny when you see one theocracy (Israel) in alliance with another (the US is a de facto theocracy, not a de jure one) bombing a third theocracy (Iran) killing indiscriminately. And they all believe in the same God, practicing similar methods, only their rituals of worship are different. Is there a more obvious fact that religion is the source of all evil in human history?
Beautiful, the bible is full of stories about murder, incest and adultery is a bestseller through the centuries.
Adjusted dozens of times so that the lies are more in line with the times.
Genesis 19:30-38
New International Version
Lot and His Daughters
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab^[a]^; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi^[b]^; he is the father of the Ammonites^[c]^ of today.
I always took that story to mean, Lot raped his daughters but then changed the story. People were pretty messed up back then.
Yeah even back then it was hard to justify it. That’s why they invented religion.
Like others in here, I have a lot of concerns about indoctrination and separation between religion and government. However, I can see a serious argument for Jonah and the Whale and especially David and Goliath as cultural touchstones that are regularly referenced in modern media. Other stories may be a harder pitch, maybe Cain & Abel?
Yeah, if I set aside my deep seated hatred for religious people undermining the Texas public education system-
I do actually think some of those stories are relevant literature to have read, alongside beowulf, epic of gilgamesh, the Iliad, arthurian legends, etc.
Samson is another but even as a kid it felt very „look how the evil woman he trusted betrayed this godly man“. The Old Testament is full of those.
David and Goliath whitewashes and celebrates a genocide.
Yeah, but those stories are plagiarized along with most things in the Bible.
A more correct way of putting it is that they’re embodiments of far more ancient cultural traditions (none of which were copyrighted, you can’t steal a myth).
none of which were copyrighted, you can’t steal a myth
and wouldn’t
Time for the Satanic Temple to do its work.
One of the biggest mistakes resulting from the Protestant Reformation’s push for the proliferation of Bibles was the belief that one can just pick the thing up and read it like it’s any other book, divorced from the tradition that wrote and shaped it. The whole idea that God assembled 66 books and bound them up in leather and dropped it from heaven is both foreign to the vast majority of Christian thinking throughout history AND grounds for a very dangerous heresy (turning the Bible into the “ultimate” revelation of God, rather than Jesus being that or at the very least redefining the Trinity as “Father, Son, and Holy Scriptures”).
The funny thing is, is that the same people who hold to an idea that if everyone read the Bible the world would be better are the same who offer selective readings and ignore/downplay the parts they don’t like (as we see in this proposal).
Quite a few of those bumpkins believe that not only is the Bible the literally true word of God, but the King James version in particular.
Smart people sometimes do stupid things, but never vice-versa.
Oh I know! I grew up around King James-only people. The committee tasked with finding a new pastor for my church growing up was deeply split over this issue with some members claiming that the New King James translation celebrated the “Mark of the Beast” (this is because the NKJV used a Celtic knot as its logo; yes, the famous symbol associated with helping illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity).
Kind of related story: I had a lisp growing up and went to a speech therapist. Reading the King James out loud was difficult because all the -th suffixes ran counter to my therapy. So I started swapping the -th suffixes with -s whenever we’d read aloud from the Bible (like in school or congregational settings; no one seemed to notice). To the point that this is now just what happens when I read “olde English.” Which was never a problem until I became a priest in the Episcopal Church and the early morning services tend to use what’s known as “Rite I” which maintains the older English of previous prayer books (the people who go to such services take this very seriously). And so I’d have to consciously undo this habit when celebrating at Rite I masses.
