My religion says you're not allowed to claim someone else as part of your religion unless they want to be a part of your religion. Ryan Walters' policy violates my religion.
I'm not surprised a Reverend would be on the opposite side of this. Might be a different flavor of christianity after all. Also reminds me that the Baptists were once VERY into the separation of church and state and used to be proud of their role in making that a thing.
"[...] he had spent over 100,000 state tax dollars meant for education in order to pay PR companies to promote his personal brand and secure more than 400 media appearances for him during his time in office."
Wait, does this mean he charges $250 per appearance? What exactly can you have him do for that money?
So far, the new Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma hasn't been controversial. He really seems to be interested in improving the school systems here, instead of making them pro-MAGA propaganda machines.
Oklahoma should be a purple state. OKC and Tulsa are very liberal; not Seattle or San Francisco, granted, but much more liberal than say Bakersfield or Fresno are. Plus, Oklahoma wants to attract more business and more tech companies, they can't do that when their school systems are at rock bottom. Very low cost of living, but who wants to live in a place where their kids will not get a good education?
The people here are fed up with a school system that has consistently ranked in the bottom 10 of all the states for the last 25 years or so. They are angry when high schools put in a $10 million gym and weight room for use by the football team and no one else; they are tired of high schools putting in football stadiums that are the envy of most colleges. The parents here are fighting to have that sort of money directed towards academics and teachers at all levels of education, instead of programs that only help the .01% who might make it into professional football.
A lot of people are very happy about the state's Supreme Court ruling that prevents Ryan's curriculum from going into effect concerning social studies, placement of, and use of Bibles in the public classrooms, and other idiotic things he tried to push into the school systems here before leaving.
5 - 4 decision on whether the god -botherers get to indoctrinate an entire state's school children. That means separating church and state in OK came down to one vote. A win, but just by the skin of their toofs. Yikers.
This is really good news for the country writ large because the end game for project 2025 is turning America into a Christian theocracy. And now they have one less precedent to support that aim, and the rest of us non Christians and non fascist Christians, have precedent to show that this shit won't be tolerated.
I think this should qualify for the certified Wonkette NICE TIME rating
I have this memory of having to recite The Lord's Prayer in 4th grade, which was 1965-66. This was awkward for me as I was the only Catholic child in the school (the rest went to the Catholic school which was right across the street from my public school) and for those of you who don't know, Catholics don't say The Lord's Prayer exactly the same way that Protestants do. Protestant versions usually include the doxology ("For thine is the kingdom...") at the end, while Catholic versions do not. However, the teacher insisted we say it the Protestant way, and I didn't make a scene or anything, I just stopped after "deliver us from evil." Nobody noticed.
I have no idea of why we had to recite this prayer in school but it was inappropriate, and it definitely stuck in my mind, probably because that was the first time I learned that Protestants said it differently.
I remember when my friends and I went to the funeral of a classmate who had been killed in a car accident. He was Catholic, so naturally the funeral was at a Catholic church; the group of us who went were basically all Lutheran or Methodist. At the end, before the young priest led everyone in the Lord's Prayer, he told all the Catholics in attendance that, because of the large number of Protestants there, he would continue the prayer (doing, as he called it, "the long version") along with us. There were some heads turning to look at us while we did that end part. We all thought that was pretty cool of him.
That was awesome. Of course he was a "young" priest. Father Flood from my childhood parish would never have done that. I don't think he ever came to terms with the loss of the Latin Mass.
Why do Right wingnut organizations have such ironic names? "Moms for America," "Moms for Liberty," "Center for American Liberty" (“…civil liberties of Americans left behind by civil rights legacy organizations.”), "Great American Family ("Hallmark movies aren't heterosexual enough[]") "Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence," "Honest Election Project" (A Leonard Leo joint), "Children’s Health Defense" (a Bobby Brainworm org), "Project Veritas," "Patriot Freedom Project," "Becket Fund for Religious Liberty," etc... etc... etc...
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"the day after it was revealed that he had spent over 100,000 state tax dollars meant for education"
The asshole also spent ~$24,500 buying 532 copies of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA Bible."
-----
"Those dissenting tried to make a case that the changes didn’t violate the act, because the meeting at which they implemented them was announced 24 hours before the board voted on them."
"You can't arrest me for Bank Robbery, I sent an email to the bank 24 hours before the stick-up."
-----
BTW, so much for "America First" and standing behind US manufacturers:
> "Thousands of copies of Donald Trump’s [sic] “God Bless the USA” Bible were printed in a country that the former president has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices: China.
"Why do Right wingnut organizations have such ironic names?" Because 45 years ago the "Moral Majority" (it was neither) got every news program in America to put their people in without noting that, indeed, it was neither. And repeated the name over and over. See also "USA-PATRIOT Act".
The only parent/guardian I know to actually call the school to complain about anything religious showing up in the school is a pastor. She was _livid_ to see a Bible quote on the margins of her 1st grader's coloring sheet. (the picture itself wasn't religious) Friend's a liberal Christian with a very strict interpretation of separation of church and state. She also advocates for the schools' winter concert to have no christmas carols.
Oddly, we never had any problem with Christmas carols in our majority Jewish public school. We also had the best choir in the county, made up entirely of Jews except for one girl of Irish ancestry and one Protestant guy (he was the lead in the high school musical but couldn't hit the lowest note in the score; a chorus member who later became a well-known cantor hit the note for him).
I bet! I didn't mean to suggest other towns couldn't be different. I used "schools' because the schools in my & my friend's district perform jointly. The 2 middle schools each have their own band director, and practice most of the time in their own school, but get together for the full group's concert, the 2 directors splitting conducting duties. The before-school chorus for the older elementary schoolers is similarly combined.
This actually made eldest pretty happy; he ended up going to the other middle school away from most of his elementary schoolmates because of his particular special needs, so the concert's the only school function he's been able to do with them
Although the Christian religion itself is not racist, having been founded and initially spreading in an area that covered parts of the Near East, Europe, and North Africa, the assumption that Christianity is the sole sufficient truth of divine interaction with human beings IS racist. It locks out the whole of East and Southeast Asia, considerably more people than lived in the initial Christian area, plus everyone who lived in the Americas and Australia, and some of those people had to wait 700 to 1400 years before they heard this allegedly essential truth. Why was God running a Chinese Exclusion Act of his own? Why did he package his "truth" with epidemics for the peoples of the Americas? As always, "God's only excuse is that he does not exist."
Oh yeah - Jesus was a middle easterner - one of the brown people that they portend to hate. The “White boys” in my context are usually white men who misuse and abuse their power to take advantage of and keep everyone in their place. However, the misusers snd abusers are not always “white” there are women and people of color that try to play the white boy game. However the real white boy men rarely let them into the White Boy Club.
Turns out the Constitution still works when someone actually reads it instead of highlighting Jesus quotes with a Sharpie. Public schools aren’t Sunday school, and “freedom” doesn’t mean sneaking theology in through the lesson plan. Small win. Big precedent.
My religion says you're not allowed to claim someone else as part of your religion unless they want to be a part of your religion. Ryan Walters' policy violates my religion.
I'm not surprised a Reverend would be on the opposite side of this. Might be a different flavor of christianity after all. Also reminds me that the Baptists were once VERY into the separation of church and state and used to be proud of their role in making that a thing.
The Baptist were once "into the seperation of church and state" only because said state said they couldn't own slaves anymore...
I attended a public school that was majority Jewish. We don't have the same Bible as Christians and it's not written in English.
As others may have already, note that four of the nine OK State SC *were* fine with it...
"[...] he had spent over 100,000 state tax dollars meant for education in order to pay PR companies to promote his personal brand and secure more than 400 media appearances for him during his time in office."
Wait, does this mean he charges $250 per appearance? What exactly can you have him do for that money?
Ta, Robyn. I trust you to keep up with all of this and keep us informed.
So far, the new Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma hasn't been controversial. He really seems to be interested in improving the school systems here, instead of making them pro-MAGA propaganda machines.
probably just dropping back for a punt. They can see the writing on the wall and OK is not as monolithic as they would like
Oklahoma should be a purple state. OKC and Tulsa are very liberal; not Seattle or San Francisco, granted, but much more liberal than say Bakersfield or Fresno are. Plus, Oklahoma wants to attract more business and more tech companies, they can't do that when their school systems are at rock bottom. Very low cost of living, but who wants to live in a place where their kids will not get a good education?
The people here are fed up with a school system that has consistently ranked in the bottom 10 of all the states for the last 25 years or so. They are angry when high schools put in a $10 million gym and weight room for use by the football team and no one else; they are tired of high schools putting in football stadiums that are the envy of most colleges. The parents here are fighting to have that sort of money directed towards academics and teachers at all levels of education, instead of programs that only help the .01% who might make it into professional football.
A lot of people are very happy about the state's Supreme Court ruling that prevents Ryan's curriculum from going into effect concerning social studies, placement of, and use of Bibles in the public classrooms, and other idiotic things he tried to push into the school systems here before leaving.
5 - 4 decision on whether the god -botherers get to indoctrinate an entire state's school children. That means separating church and state in OK came down to one vote. A win, but just by the skin of their toofs. Yikers.
This is really good news for the country writ large because the end game for project 2025 is turning America into a Christian theocracy. And now they have one less precedent to support that aim, and the rest of us non Christians and non fascist Christians, have precedent to show that this shit won't be tolerated.
I think this should qualify for the certified Wonkette NICE TIME rating
I have this memory of having to recite The Lord's Prayer in 4th grade, which was 1965-66. This was awkward for me as I was the only Catholic child in the school (the rest went to the Catholic school which was right across the street from my public school) and for those of you who don't know, Catholics don't say The Lord's Prayer exactly the same way that Protestants do. Protestant versions usually include the doxology ("For thine is the kingdom...") at the end, while Catholic versions do not. However, the teacher insisted we say it the Protestant way, and I didn't make a scene or anything, I just stopped after "deliver us from evil." Nobody noticed.
I have no idea of why we had to recite this prayer in school but it was inappropriate, and it definitely stuck in my mind, probably because that was the first time I learned that Protestants said it differently.
I remember when my friends and I went to the funeral of a classmate who had been killed in a car accident. He was Catholic, so naturally the funeral was at a Catholic church; the group of us who went were basically all Lutheran or Methodist. At the end, before the young priest led everyone in the Lord's Prayer, he told all the Catholics in attendance that, because of the large number of Protestants there, he would continue the prayer (doing, as he called it, "the long version") along with us. There were some heads turning to look at us while we did that end part. We all thought that was pretty cool of him.
That was awesome. Of course he was a "young" priest. Father Flood from my childhood parish would never have done that. I don't think he ever came to terms with the loss of the Latin Mass.
"Teacher Freedom Alliance"
Why do Right wingnut organizations have such ironic names? "Moms for America," "Moms for Liberty," "Center for American Liberty" (“…civil liberties of Americans left behind by civil rights legacy organizations.”), "Great American Family ("Hallmark movies aren't heterosexual enough[]") "Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence," "Honest Election Project" (A Leonard Leo joint), "Children’s Health Defense" (a Bobby Brainworm org), "Project Veritas," "Patriot Freedom Project," "Becket Fund for Religious Liberty," etc... etc... etc...
-----
"the day after it was revealed that he had spent over 100,000 state tax dollars meant for education"
The asshole also spent ~$24,500 buying 532 copies of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA Bible."
-----
"Those dissenting tried to make a case that the changes didn’t violate the act, because the meeting at which they implemented them was announced 24 hours before the board voted on them."
"You can't arrest me for Bank Robbery, I sent an email to the bank 24 hours before the stick-up."
-----
BTW, so much for "America First" and standing behind US manufacturers:
> "Thousands of copies of Donald Trump’s [sic] “God Bless the USA” Bible were printed in a country that the former president has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices: China.
Global trade records reviewed by The Associated Press show a printing company in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States earlier this year." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/thousands-of-trump-bibles-were-printed-in-china-as-he-campaigned-against-trade-practices (Oct 2024)
As they say, you should read the whole thing.
fnord
"Why do Right wingnut organizations have such ironic names?" Because 45 years ago the "Moral Majority" (it was neither) got every news program in America to put their people in without noting that, indeed, it was neither. And repeated the name over and over. See also "USA-PATRIOT Act".
The only parent/guardian I know to actually call the school to complain about anything religious showing up in the school is a pastor. She was _livid_ to see a Bible quote on the margins of her 1st grader's coloring sheet. (the picture itself wasn't religious) Friend's a liberal Christian with a very strict interpretation of separation of church and state. She also advocates for the schools' winter concert to have no christmas carols.
Oddly, we never had any problem with Christmas carols in our majority Jewish public school. We also had the best choir in the county, made up entirely of Jews except for one girl of Irish ancestry and one Protestant guy (he was the lead in the high school musical but couldn't hit the lowest note in the score; a chorus member who later became a well-known cantor hit the note for him).
I bet! I didn't mean to suggest other towns couldn't be different. I used "schools' because the schools in my & my friend's district perform jointly. The 2 middle schools each have their own band director, and practice most of the time in their own school, but get together for the full group's concert, the 2 directors splitting conducting duties. The before-school chorus for the older elementary schoolers is similarly combined.
This actually made eldest pretty happy; he ended up going to the other middle school away from most of his elementary schoolmates because of his particular special needs, so the concert's the only school function he's been able to do with them
Although the Christian religion itself is not racist, having been founded and initially spreading in an area that covered parts of the Near East, Europe, and North Africa, the assumption that Christianity is the sole sufficient truth of divine interaction with human beings IS racist. It locks out the whole of East and Southeast Asia, considerably more people than lived in the initial Christian area, plus everyone who lived in the Americas and Australia, and some of those people had to wait 700 to 1400 years before they heard this allegedly essential truth. Why was God running a Chinese Exclusion Act of his own? Why did he package his "truth" with epidemics for the peoples of the Americas? As always, "God's only excuse is that he does not exist."
More creepy white boys pretending they are Christians- aren’t they really trying to deflect from the fact that they are pedophiles. I’m just asking.
" ... More creepy white boys pretending they are Christians ... "
My limited knowledge and understanding is that Jesus was not a White Boy no matter what Jim Caviezel says or believes.
Oh yeah - Jesus was a middle easterner - one of the brown people that they portend to hate. The “White boys” in my context are usually white men who misuse and abuse their power to take advantage of and keep everyone in their place. However, the misusers snd abusers are not always “white” there are women and people of color that try to play the white boy game. However the real white boy men rarely let them into the White Boy Club.
I bet it wasn't English teachers who came up with the very awkward name "Teacher Freedom Alliance."
Perhas is was supposed to be "TEACHER FREEDOM APPLIANCE"!
SPLITTERS!
Turns out the Constitution still works when someone actually reads it instead of highlighting Jesus quotes with a Sharpie. Public schools aren’t Sunday school, and “freedom” doesn’t mean sneaking theology in through the lesson plan. Small win. Big precedent.