When I was a kid, somehow my public school district developed a practice of distributing a small red pocket bible, about the size of a modern cell phone, to each child in the fifth grade. I had two older sisters so I was aware of the practice and was not suprised when, on one day in October or November, my class was lined up, marched down the hall to the library past a table where someone handed us the exact same red pocket bible that had been handed out each year prior.

Having been raised Catholic (***) and having the element of surprise taken away by already seeing two older siblings get the same bible, it didn't register with me that this whole process was kinda wierd. This was just the thing they did in fifth grade where everyone got their copy of the bible. Of course, it's worth noting in hindsight that, curiously, whatever entity was sponsoring this process didn't provide copies of the FULL bible, only the New Testament. Hmmmmmm. Too much begatting going on for young minds to read about in the OT? Maybe it was the nudity throughout Genesis.

Anyway, while this didn't phase me or my parents, my best friend in fifth grade, who was of Jewish descent though I'm not sure they were practicing Jews, brought his bible home and his mother contacted the school immediately the next day. WHAT ON EARTH IS A PUBLIC SCHOOL DOING DISTRIBUTING BIBLES TO STUDENTS? She took the issue to the school board and that was the last year bibles were distributed. I never heard if this was a practice that somehow was only going on at my elementary school or across the district or who was paying for the bibles or selected which version.

My first reaction when my friend told me that his mom filed a complaint with the board was along the lines of "I get it, but what's the big deal?" However, her action woke me up and made me put myself in the shoes of other kids to contemplate how intimidating that was to be frog-marched into a room along with all your peers and be "expected" to take a bible like everyone else. Within a day or two of thinking about it, I became as creeped out as she probably was about how monsterously inappropriate the tradition was.

It isn't clear if these Oklahoma Bible copies are being purchased for the school libraries in this school district or as part of some indoctrination campaign for district employees. If the former, then the oddly specific requirements sound like a scam to force them to purchase copies of the "Trump Bible" to curry favor with the Orange One and pad his pockets, given other bibles can be purchased for far less. If this is some sort of attempt at imposing a "Christian" mindset among district employees, this merits an investigation and civil lawsuit against all district employees involved.

WTH

*** Though I was raised Catholic, to paraphrase a comedian, "it didn't take none..."