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State theocracy from the governor of Kentucky:
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#BringYourBible to School Day is THIS Thursday, Oct. 3!
The Judeo-Christian principles that are bound in this book are timeless, containing an amazing amount of history, knowledge, wisdom and guidance…
Bring it. Read it. Share it.
It’s attached to a video in which he says he wants to encourage every single student in Kentucky to do this bible thing. I didn’t watch the rest; I’ve had enough sick-making video for one day.
But about that tweet, and even apart from the church-state issue, and the other religions issue, and the what does that have to do with school anyway issue, there is also the content of what he says. Which “Judeo-Christian principles” are timeless? The pro-genocide ones? The pro-throwing a woman to dogs one? The pro-wars of religion ones? The pro-kill your kid if god tells you to one?
It is possible to find some ok moral advice in the bible if you really search, but so what? It’s easy to find better moral advice in other sources.
The bible is not a good source for history.
The bible is not a good source for knowledge or wisdom.
The bible is not a good source for guidance.
It has some ok stories, and some fine poetry (at least in the King James translation). It is useful for literary background, getting some idea of what believers believe, and the like, but what Governor Dopy says is just nonsense.
Plus that whole church-state issue, and the other religions issue, and the what does that have to do with school anyway issue.
The Judeo-Christian Tradition is the wholesale slaughter of Jews by Christians.
If I were a high school student in Kentucky I’d bring my copy of the the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, but I missed out by about 800 miles and 50 years.
Peter N, ditto but I’d bring my Why I Am Not A Christian.
I went to middle school in rural Kentucky. This stuff gives me flashbacks.
One day the little boy who lived next door said to me “Mah Momma sez ah cain’t play with you, cuz yore goin-ta hayy-ull.” I once had a kid attack me physically because I said Jesus was a Jew.
One of the most insightful things I’ve read about Kentucky public education is the essay Defending Darwin, by James Krupa:
https://orionmagazine.org/article/defending-darwin/
I lived this for three years.
Hopefully some smartass kid will know all the good bits to share.
Oh, come on, Ophelia. You know as well as I do that mixing fibers in textiles is a sin beyond all possible measure! I mean, seriously, cotton and polyester blended?!?! You’re seriously going to argue the position that this is okay?? That there are more important moral issues??
I just ran across this by P.Z. Myers from a couple of weeks ago:
Peter N, as is so often the case the truth is complex and open to interpretation. A point PZ does not explore in that piece. In the period building up to WWII Germany was overwhelmingly Christian, mostly Protestant. Many Nazi leaders were Christians, although generally not Catholic (and certainly anti Pope). Others were atheist or pagan. Many pre war nazi parades certainly made use of pagan symbolism, which probably explains why modern nazi and alt-right groups do so as well. Maybe a long term goal of Hitler was to eradicate Christianity, maybe not.
Even if you are not personally Christian, if you grow up in a broadly Christian community or one with political and society mores and norms derived from such, I think inescapably, you’re part of the broad Judeo-Christian culture. Like all cultures it has positive and negative aspects. Which are which is open to individual perception and have certainly changed over time.