Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.

A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters.

But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.

  • BrokenGlepnir@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    With the 3 million they would save buying the cheaper bibles(something they shouldn’t be doing either) they could wash a lot of men’s feet. They could be teaching all these students how to fish. That is their job after all.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    Yep, that’s when you start with the answer you want, then set “general” requirements that only it can meet

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      23 hours ago

      Sure along with ever other translation I can find. I prefer the geneva translation but that is hard to find so I often end up with the king james when I need a printed copy. for those not familar, the good parts of king james is where they took the geneva and updated to modern english - this should tell you something about my tastes.

        • Optional@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          In Ye Olden Tymes, people learned to read with it, to much the same effect.

          Very clever, Christians.

    • milkisklim@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      It’s public domain so they don’t have to pay for the copyright of a modern translation.

    • 1024_Kibibytes@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Some denominations do believe that only the KJV is the correct English translation. Many of those people do not understand what the words actually mean. They interpret the text very narrowly and frequently are told by others what interpretation is correct.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Which the whole symbolism of the temple veil being torn when Jesus carked on the cross was meant to mean there was no need for anyone (the clergy) to do that or to intercede.

      • ArtVandelay@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        “If the King James version was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me”.

        I live in the shithole south, and I have heard this unironically on multiple occasions. Please send help. And education.

      • kyle@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        That’s insane, because the KJV is objectively a bad translation. I’m not even Christian anymore and it still annoys me how popular it is.

  • seth@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Is there a term for a society that has all the wealth, technology, industrial knowledge, and manpower readily at hand to be a utopia and despite that, leans hard into dystopia?

  • cultsuperstar@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Trump, cashing in on licensing. Like the $100K watches, where proceeds don’t quite go to funding his campaign. They money goes pretty much directly to his pocket. He loves the poorly educated!

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    For fuck’s sake in ten years we’re going to hear kids tell us the Constitution was given to us by Jesus.

  • Rob@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Why are they putting bibles in classrooms in the first place? Did they repeal the First Amendment?

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      The first amendment doesn’t apply to Christian evangelism.

      According to SCOTUS at any rate.

    • kyle@lemm.ee
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      7 hours ago

      Apparently, the State Superintendent gets to decide what gets taught in classrooms, and how it gets taught is left up to individual school districts. But it’s fully within his right because no “commentary” is allowed around the Bible, just how important it was to America’s history.

      Why that requires a physical copy that’s leather bound, I have no idea. Nor why the money has to come from the fucking payroll budget.

      Oklahoma is ranked 49th in education, yet this is what we’re spending money on? Seriously?

    • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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      4 hours ago

      The Bible is really important for understanding western society and it’s history. It has a place in the classroom.

      I’m sure that was not the motivation behind that law but it’s true.

      • Entropywins@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        There are history books that can contextually bring our students up to speed on what religious texts drove certain events/societies.

      • hr_@lemmy.world
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        32 minutes ago

        You’re not wrong but, thankfully, studying history and teaching the impact of things doesn’t require the things to physically be in the room.

      • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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        19 minutes ago

        It might fit into history if it hadn’t been changed and edited, sections omitted, additions made, for the entire time it existed. It was only the printing press that allowed us to have true copies for the masses.

        It surely has a place in history, but not for psychology or sociology. In my opinion there is some value educationally but its very limited. There are even denominations that exclude books or add them, so it depends which religion you consider to be the “main” one.

        To have a truly nuanced class about it, would have to be in college I would think.

  • dgmib@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    Who tf wrote those requirements?

    It seems pretty clear to me that they intended the Trump Bible to be the only one that fit all the specifications.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    Pretty clear they wrote the requirement to fit some recently hacked up version as opposed to the one hacked up by king james.

  • AmidFuror@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    Why would any school want a Bible that doesn’t also have the Declaration and Constitution? It’s a perfectly logical requirement, and it’s not Trump’s fault so few others are making them.