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Texas's new required school reading list includes stories from the Bible
Texas is the first state to establish such a list, as others generally give wide latitude to school districts and boards to select their own texts.
There are fourteen stories, listed in order of grade level: Jonah and the Whale (Jonah 1:1-5, 10-17, 2:10), David and Goliath (excerpt from The Children's Book of Heroes), Daniel and the Lion's Den (Children's Adapted Version), The Necessity of Humility (Luke 14:7-11), Moses (Exodus 3, 14), Do Not Be Anxious (Matthew 6:25-34), The Shepherd's Psalm (Psalms 23), Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), To Everything There is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3), Lamentations 3, The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), Job (Job 1-7, 11, 14, 19, 28, 38-42), Adam and Eve (Genesis 2-3), The Definition of Love (1 Corinthians 13).
They also select a variety of translations: the New International Reader's Version, which is for a third-grade reading level, the English Standard Version, the King James Version, and the Jewish Publication Society. The ESV/KJV have their own history as evangelical texts; this is why there are so many parochial Catholic schools, though it's doubtful whether modern Catholics (who make up ~22% of Texas's population) care as much.
Teaching Biblical stories as cultural or historical texts does not violate the 1st amendment. Certainly the Bible is the most influential book in Western thought and has relevance to any serious study of literature and history. That being said, certain passages err on the side of theology and perhaps should be avoided outside of a comparative religion course. And some atheists will be disappointed that the more controversial passages have been excluded.
Is it? In 1900, sure.
But in 2026?
Do our politicians read the Bible and actually implement biblical doctrine, socially or economically? Is Christianity a major social movement in the West today? The recent pro-life moves in the US only gave individual states the ability to ban or legalize abortion, that doesn't seem Christian so much as federalist.
Sodomy is very fashionable, there are literal Pride parades. Bigamy has made a comeback with polyamory. The less said about usury, lust, greed, sloth and envy the better.
In media, any major new works of Christian art? Film? TV? Video games?
What about the Pope? Any Crusades recently? His powers to excommunicate, have they been relevant in world affairs much? Or does nobody really care if they're excommunicated, what does that say about the Pope's abilities?
The Church of England? Well the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the King 'protects the space for Faith within the multi-faith nation' per the Palace description of the role of the Head of State. He still holds the role of being 'Defender of the Faith' but it seems fairly clear his heart is not really in it. De facto the King issues milquetoast proclamations that nobody pays much attention to:
No reference to Christ can be found in the whole 150 page document. Only in Russia, in Africa, in Latin America is Christianity taken more seriously. Defacing churches in Russia and LGBT behaviour is treated very seriously indeed.
Christianity's influence is mostly historical, like how mammals in the time of the dinosaurs were mostly tiny mouse creatures. They had tremendous influence in a certain sense. We are descended from tiny mouse creatures. There are still tiny mouse creatures around. But the tiny mouse creatures around today are not really influential and we are not really tiny mice. Even if most of our DNA is mouse there are important distinctions.
Marx is more relevant than the Bible to Western thought today, there are powerful cadres of communists, true believers (still!) Or the Limits to Growth - degrowthers and climatists have significant influence on the left and especially in Europe. They see datacentres, power plants, industry and development but unlike Christians they don't just murmur or complain about things they're against, they reach out and crush them to death. That's not to say that it would be good to teach people Marx or other bad ideologies but they're certainly more relevant.
The Bible’s influence is everywhere in our culture. The year’s biggest game so far is Resident Evil Requiem. The most anticipated launch next month is Halo, about the savior “John 117” and a covenant, flood, and ark. The most popular movie this year is Project Hail Mary. Not to mention that the Bible is essential for understanding Western music and literature before 1900. If we were thinking objectively about what readings to include in public education for the purpose of cultural literacy, easily half the readings would just be the Bible. Probably more like 80% of the readings.
All those examples look like shallow references where a thing was named after a biblical or Catholic thing to sound slightly cooler. Are any of those media Christian beyond that?
The first 5 Halo games are arguably far more "Christian" in both message and tone than a lot of churches these days. Ditto Project Hail Mary though I don't have a effort post I can link for that one.
Specifically the themes of hope in the face of hopelessness, and the idea that the righteous and honest will always find themselves in conflict with the worldly.
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In Halo 3, the Master and Savior of humanity sacrifices himself in the “gravemind”, says “it is finished”, and is then
entombedcryogenically frozen and later “resurrected”, all of which is very Biblical. But this is shallow because most things in our culture are shallow. To Kill a Mockingbird? Lord of the Flies? Not just shallow but actively detrimental to cultivating wisdom. Just worthless slop.More options
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That's because these things are perceived as against the state not because they are against Christianity. Homosexuality is mildly suppressed in Russia but so is Evangelical Christianity. Because both are perceived as foreign Western ideologies. And homosexuality is at best mildly repressed not "treated very seriously" There are open Gay bars and clubs in Moscow and St. Petersburg, gay men from all over the former Soviet Union move to Russia for it's tolerance of homosexuality. The whole reason Russia passed those gay propaganda laws is because they have enough organic western liberals they needed to suppress them.
And all of this flows from the state. When Russia was more open in the 90s they were more open to both Protestant missionaries and gay activists and now that the state is stronger both have been curtailed as foreign ideologies. Defacing churches is illegal but so is defacing any state approved religious house of worship Mosques included.
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This one paragraph seems to completely override any point made earlier on in this post. The bible and stories therein aren't the tiny mouse creatures that are still around; the evangelical Christians and Catholics and such of today are the ones that are still around. The parts of our DNA that are mouse DNA (which in this hypothetical is most of our DNA) is the bible. Which means that it has tremendous influence.
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In terms of "books to read to understand modern culture" Marx is less relevant than Harry Potter.
The Bible is still far and away the most important single book you can read to understand modern culture (including Marxism/socialism, which is a post-Christian ideology).
Yeah. How many 'marxists' have any real comprehension of the book itself beyond a vague understanding of 'Marx says we should all share everything equally and stop being mean'?
Which of course is far from unique to Marx!
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People are still using terms like "Good Samaritan" in "Good Samaritan laws", so there's an amount of cultural knowledge still remaining. "Golden Rule", "love your enemies" and the likes. While I might be dubious about required reading of Bible stories, it's no harm to show where such terms came from, since there's a lot of modern ignorance (same with ideas from Greek myths and the likes, the level of assumed cultural knowledge that past generations had has decreased hugely in modern times).
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Yeah but so many random books are part of the canon now. How many books on slavery or Jim crow will be mandated in most states for random bludgeoning with.
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I must note about Russia, from my perspective here it does not look like its trad values such as slightly lower (relatively when compared to both USA and Afghanistan) acceptance of LGBT is in any way connected to greater influence of Christianity.
The penetration of the Orthodox gilding on top of the Russian state into Russian society is dismal. From what I see, being either an adherent Christian or a cultural Christian is a lot more common and "mainstream" among Americans than Russians. Hell, Americans actually prioritize Christmas above New Year's Eve.
I have elaborated on that elsewhere. For now, as per your metaphor the only legacy of mice Russia seems to keep over USA is that we eat more real cheese rather than the synthetic orange stuff.
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I can never understand the trad Christian love for the Russian state as some enabler of Christian virtue - it's really really not the case.
Russia is a larp, pretending to be bits of the Soviet bear and the Imperial eagle whenever it suits, and as such they have made the Russian Orthodox Patriarchy an arm of that project by stuffing their mouths with gold. This is done for state aims, and many Eastern Europeans (including in Ukraine) attend churches regularly - more than Russians incidentally (which is kind of obviously true due to Ukraine's far lower muslim population for a start). The orthodoxy is another state pillar, and part of the legitimizing claims Russia projects, but I don't see much beyond that.
Russia comes down hard on those who damage churches as its popular among a fairly conservative core population that likes tradition and the larp (which I actually understand and respect), and because its a disrespect to a state arm like attacking a police station. It also lets Russia project an image of being against globalhomo too, which is popular for some and where the gay bashing comes in.
But what does being a supposedly trad Christian state actually do for morality and behaviour of the Russian system in general? They have mass muslim migration, onto a population that was already fairly muslim - 10-15% of the population (~ double to triple the poor UK), and a string of terrorist attacks to match. Homosexual rape and general degeneracy is embedded deeply into the Russian military, and the whole anti LGBT thing seems to miss out a lot - Russia is just repressed, not some trad paradise. I'm not sure Jesus would love old King Charles and his mealy mouthed words, Russia however is a few steps away from Sodom by comparison.
To be clear, this is aimed at the Russian state and high leadership of the church - I actually think a good chunk of normal Russians have solid christian convictions that are to their credit. However, that's inherited through time, was failed to be stamped out via the Soviets, and they seem to happily wage war on their very Christian Ukrainian neighbors. The Russian government itself is just very cynically using them, and burning through what it inherited - this isn't going to last long-term. Drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, divorce and spousal abuse are through the roof, that's your Christian paradise?
I'm not a fan of globalhomo, and Ukraine is going to have to navigate a minefield post war to chart its way through the various failure modes of the West, but Russia is just sad. Punching gays as strength and golden watches while the structure rots and now burns, if that's the best of the Christian project then it needs to find Christ too.
“Christianity done for political aims” is the traditional form of Christianity. The State has been invested in Christianity and using it for her own influence since Constantine. Remember that America got Pope John Paul II elected as an anti-Soviet measure.
You mean the central Asian migrants that will not receive citizenship? Who cares? The problem has always been political enfranchisement and replacement. Moscow is 90% White while NYC is like 30% White.
Because the North Caucasus was always Muslim, and they took it over. It’s not because of migration. Russia’s cultural capitals are way more Russian than ours are White American.
This is like NAFO propaganda. No, they are not all secretly gay or doing secret mass rape in the military; no, the new ayatollah is not gay either. They do not have 1% of the gay culture that America has, neither do they have gay mafias in their arts scenes or in tech like America. I would prefer that we “bash the gays” than allow them the kind of power they have in the West. I know two straight men in the classical arts who have been prevented from advancing in the industry because they aren’t gay. This is common where homosexuals get into power and I am personally envious of Russia’s ability to throw them back into the closet. I actually want straight men in all influential positions, but perhaps this is a matter of cultural taste, ie I like their cultural products and their conservatism and do not like to see homosexuality celebrated in our major cities.
John Paul II was elected because he was conservative and seen as a diplomat; the Soviets actually assessed him as being relatively weak on communism at the time of the conclave, and the cardinals wanted a conservative who would just stop tinkering given the disaster of Paul VI.
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I am not certain I will be able to change your mind on much to do with chronic Russian hazing and rape, both by their own and by Kadyrov's boys, here. As I recall you thought that the Bucha massacre wasn't Russian discipline immediately collapsing once in an environment where they hold power, as is common, but instead somehow Azov who decided to kill everyone post liberation and then go back and doctor satellite footage of the massacre.
However, I guess it's worth a go:
Christ being misused and twisted by politics certainly is very old, and is a factor that can bring down such states in the past. This is a failure mode, not something to aspire to for a Christian and the states they wish to live in surely?
Your Youtube link doesn't work, but as I understand John Paul II was elected for several reasons, none of which support any relevant thesis that Russia is a model for a Christian state.
Moscow has an official Muslim population in the 1-2 million range, comparable with Paris, and many more unofficial migrants as you point out that will certainly push it much higher. Relations are not great, which boils into open war in the past, and terrorist attacks here and there. You might say the same about the west, but this is the same story, not a solution by the Russians.
Rape is endemic in the Russian military, including as hazing "Dedovshchina" where it is extremely common. All forces struggle with some incidents worldwide, but the Russian structure is famously bad for it since forever. For example: Russian recruits sold for sex, 1500 army sexual assaults reported in 2019 which must be a floor, and that only came to light after a guy snapped and shot those who were raping him.
We also have many incidents in the war, both by and inflicted onto Russians, but possibly the one you'll most be interested in was the Russian soldier raped by Kadyrov's troops who are used as barrier troops and left to run rampant over their Christian charges, who then hung himself. Not sure if you read Russian, but a rough translation is: "Goodbye. love, in the time that I am here I have seen hell. There were not so many deaths in Chechnya or even Afganistan. seas of human meat. but that is not why i depart. We here, Russian people, are nobody, and Chechens rule. They drink, are lawless and rape, they despise everyone and no ones doing anything about it. Kitty, they took all the money you sent and they did a thing to me. This is to let you know that I resisted. Remember that you and me owe nothing to anyone. This is the only way out. See you after death"
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My experience as a European member of a conservative church is that this is mostly an online and political phenomenon and doesn't represent people who actually go to Church. It might be different in the USA, I don't have any info on the ground from over there, but over here in the Netherlands right wing populist politicians will exhibit sometimes the trad love for Russia and they will make some vague remarks about our country being Christian or whatever, but none of those politicians actually go to Church and if you push them all of them will admit they are cultural Christians and don't actually believe any traditional Christian dogmas. Just like you can get more liberal politicians to sometimes dress up progressive politics with vaguely Christian language about love or whatever, the right wing populists will dress up their anti Muslim sentiment with some vague rhetoric about us being a traditionally Christian nation or whatever. In both cases it is just superficial rhetoric trying to appeal to some cultural memes and doesn't really mean anything. In practice, people who vote for those parties mostly don't actually attend Church regularly and people who do attend Church regularly almost never vote for those parties. Maybe in other countries actual trads are more tempted to vote for the right wing populist parties as the lesser evil, but in the Netherlands having no electoral threshold and proportional representation in our parliament, we are spoiled with not just one, but two actual traditional Christian political parties and almost everybody who regularly attends a theologically conservative Church votes for them and both of these parties are not pro Russia.
In America russophiles are a bit more fringey than they are in Europe, because our right traditionally defines itself with strong russophobia, but also the right wing populists get the church attending vote.
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I have always been fascinated by Christian political parties. The idea seems repulsive to me both as an American (due to separation of church and state) and as a Christian (I'm from a tradition that sees even voting as borderline sinful).
Do you think Christians should completely abstain from politics? In the end somebody has to run the country and I cannot imagine a version of Christianity that doesn't at least espouse some values that will inform how Christians think a country ought to be run. If you think Christians should completely abstain from politics, what do you think Constantine or Clovis should have done after converting to Christianity? How should a country be governed when almost all of its citizens profess Christianity, like most Western countries up until quite recently?
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All that is kind of true but how can a country with state sanctioned, state-promoted pride parades even be anything but anti-Christian? Both the medium and the message are pretty explicitly anti-Christian? How can a country with legal gay marriage be considered Christian, never mind divorce rates?
Even if Russia's goal is just vaguely seeming to be against globohomo, that's still way closer to Christianity than the Western countries who are promoting, spreading, directing globohomo.
I don't believe in the 'based trad Russia' meme. But in terms of social vice, it's hardly worse than America or the West generally. Abortions: 13.1 per 1000 vs 14.4 in America, 20 in UK. Russia is number 7 in drug deaths per capita but America is far ahead at number 1 worldwide, 4x Russia.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/abortion-rates-by-country
https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/drug-use/by-country
Trying but mostly failing to be anti-LGBT in the military seems a lot more Christian than promoting LGBT and diversity in the military. However cynically Putin may use Christian rhetoric he's 10x more Christian than the average Western leader who's mentally redefined Christianity to mean 'more leftism but with cross aesthetics'.
Vladimir Putin who swore he was an Atheist to join the KGB for decades and is on record (via hot mike) of hoping tech not Jesus will make him immortal? That Vladimir Putin? He's against western Liberalism and LBGTQ+ sure but that doesn't make someone a Christian. By that standard Joseph Stalin was a Christian.
He's a Hirsi Ali Christian: i.e. Christian because it's the only thing they see that can push back against liberalism (and, in Hirsi Ali's case, Islam and the alliance it's made with the left) and provide an alternate civilizational narrative.
This is obviously very different from communists, who think they already have said narrative.
He makes the same cultural noises every European leader does. But he's no more Christian then the liberal Western Europeans. Nor are Russians anymore religious then Western Europeans. Putin suppresses quite a bit of Christianity as well, Evangelical missionaries are not welcome in Russia。 America is a far more religious society then Russia.
Making the noises and then doing globohomo stuff seems worse than making the noises and keeping globohomo out/maintaining some semblance of Christian values.
But YMMV I'm not a Christian so maybe I don't value enough the value it places on the spirit rather than the form.
But, if you were a (Orthodox) Christian seeing your faith fade who would you rather support you? A leader like Putin or someone like Talarico that'll come up with some doctrine about how Genesis 1 means transing kids? Or a Stalin who just outright wants you gone?
Better an emperor driven purely by pragmatism than an outright heretic Buffalo Bill-ing your religion or someone hostile to the concept entirely, surely?
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Do you consider restricting marriage to be between a man and a woman such a core part of Christianity that it beats all the rest of Christian practices and virtues, or lack thereof? It's hardly even exclusive to Christianity. Any run of the mill jungle tribe faith practices heterogamy.
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