Florida man seeks Bible ban throughout the state's schools : NPR
By: Gov. Ron DeSantis (NPR. org)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
April 26, 20225:41 AM ET
Matthew S. Schwartz
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Chaz Stevens at the Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee, Fla., in 2013. Brendan Farrington/AP hide caption
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Chaz Stevens at the Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee, Fla., in 2013.
Brendan Farrington/AP
A Florida activist known for his tongue-in-cheek petitions to local government agencies has asked school districts in Florida to ban the Bible.
In petitions sent to public school superintendents across the state, Chaz Stevens asked the districts to "immediately remove the Bible from the classroom, library, and any instructional material," Stevens wrote in the documents, which were shared with NPR. "Additionally, I also seek the banishment of any book that references the Bible."
His petitions cited a bill signed into law last month by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which lets parents object to educational materials. That bill came about after some parents complained about sexually explicit books being taught in Florida schools.
Many of those books, such as Gender Queer: A Memoir , deal with LGBTQ themes and coming out stories. DeSantis celebrated the removal of Gender Queer at a news conference after the signing of the law. It's "a cartoon-style book with graphic images of children performing sexual acts," he said last month. "That is wrong."
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Liberals have been critical of the legislation. After passage, the state's Democratic leader, Lauren Book, lamented Florida's joining "places like Russia and China, modern-day examples of what happens when free thought and free speech are tightly restricted in all levels of society, including in school."
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Lauren Book in New York City in 2019. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Child Mind Institute hide caption
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Lauren Book in New York City in 2019.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Child Mind Institute
So, with Florida the latest flashpoint in the culture wars, Stevens decided it was time to take up arms. His target: The Bible. "My objection to the Bible being in your public schools is based on the following seven points, offered for your learned consideration," Stevens wrote.
Stevens proceeded to question whether the Bible is age-appropriate, pointing to its "casual" references to murder, adultery, sexual immorality, and fornication. "Do we really want to teach our youth about drunken orgies?"
He also took issue with the many Biblical references to rape, bestiality, cannibalism and infanticide. "In the end, if Jimmy and Susie are curious about any of the above, they can do what everyone else does - get a room at the Motel Six and grab the Gideons," he wrote.
The 57-year-old Deerfield Beach man says his ire was stoked after Florida lawmakers decided this month to ban 54 math books that were claimed to have incorporated topics such as critical race theory. "I love the algebras," says Stevens, who studied applied mathematics in college. "And those Tally [Tallahassee] loons just banned a bunch of arithmetic books?"
Stevens sent the petitions as a way to point out the hypocrisy, he said. "If you want to teach morality and ethics, do you really want to turn to a book that wants you to dash babies against rocks?" he told NPR, pointing to Psalm 137:9.
Stevens, who doesn't have any children attending Florida public schools, says he hasn't heard back from any of the school districts yet. But his group is tracking when the emailed petitions are opened. As of late Monday, the Pasco County School District had shared the email internally 35 times, he said — and Duval County reached out to the state capital for guidance.
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"My activism in the past has been wildly successful," Stevens said. "And, I imagine, will continue on a similar trajectory."
Stevens said he is particularly interested in drawing attention to the hypocrisy. "I don't have the votes," he said. "My job is merely to turn hypocrisy on itself and let the bureaucrats eat eachother for lunch."
It's not the first time Stevens has made waves for his activism. In 2015, he petitioned 11 South Florida municipalities to either drop the prayer that opens their city commission meetings, or let him lead a prayer in the name of Satan.
After Stevens' requests, some Florida cities ended up dropping their moment of prayer altogether. "The satanic stare withered them down," Stevens told the Sun Sentinel.
Correction April 26, 2022Due to incorrect information provided by Chaz Stevens, an earlier version of this story said the Lake County School District had shared his emailed petition internally 35 times. Actually, it was the Pasco County School District.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis
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here's the latest version from the S&B legal dept.
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Awesome!
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That is all.
Now this man has a wicked sense of humor, but he's right. Do you think 5 and 6 year olds should hear about those things?
it's always highly entertaining when the latest fascist dictates are reversed and used against the dumb ass thumpers.
Maybe we should ask Madison Cawthorn - didn't he say something about cocaine fueled republican sex orgies?
... otherwise known as family reunions in the deep south.
“Madison Cawthorn…”
…literally triggered.
That must be where he met his wife.
Where is the Bible taught in a public school in any State other than a study of "Religions" class?.
My school had a couple of copies of the Bible in the library. DeSantis is pushing to get rid of any books that mention gays and anything else he hates...well he needs to look in the school libraries. There's plenty of incest, rape, and what not in the reference section (that's where my library kept the Bible)
thumpers are unceremoniously drummed out of the public school systems regularly for engaging in bible blabber.
"Florida Law Would Require Public Schools to Offer Bible Study: Is It Legal?"
An existing state law , approved in 2002, already gives school districts the option of providing courses that include the "objective study" of the Bible. The proposed law would require school districts to make those courses available, and students could decide whether to enroll.
That wasn't the question, what school is teaching the Bible?
If you had read the seed you would see it's not about teaching the Bible, tho you might want to take a quick glance at Dismayed's recent post.
The fact is that the Bible resides in public schools much like other books that have "questionable content". Any child can easily gain access to these books and that includes the Bible, which you have to admit contains "questionable content". And if you can't admit that, then I suggest you haven't read the Bible
I wonder if the Koran is in schools.
It probably is in some larger schools. My school didn't have it, but it was a small, rural school and most everyone was Christian. I don't think I know of any kid who was Jewish or Muslim.
bible blabber
That doesn’t seem to matter much anymore. This story, for example, is a response to a law prohibiting teaching about sex and gender in K-3, when there is probably little or none of that going on. There are other examples, but I don’t wish to derail.
Politics these days seems to be all about getting upset over problems we don’t actually have.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."
Ernest Benn
"Politics these days seems to be all about getting upset over problems we don’t actually have."
Funny how that it's only the republicans that are doing that.
My question was to you since you posted "Do you think 5 and 6 year olds should hear about those things?".
How do 5 and 6 year olds hear about the Bible at school?
Well....how much of it is going on?
tongue in cheek
tongue in cheek
tongue in cheek.
you know....humor
Beyond perhaps making kids aware that some families are made up of same sex parents, I would guess none.
Like crying over restrictions on CRT being taught in schools and in the same breath claim it's not being taught?
When I was a kid, my friends and I would look for the dirty parts in the bible.
Now, see? You just proved the whole point of this seed
Is there a little boy who didn't?
I think that was in my school, too
I don't remember the NG issue but I still remember it was page 88, full frontal nude of a girl 18-19 standing in a river. I always put the issue back on the end so I could find it to show friends. There were a lot of old saggies in NG but that one girl was perfect.
That's the second time you've caused my first laugh out loud of the day.
No internet back then so we just made do with what we had.
It's a clever ploy on his part. I like it. Unfortunately it is a form of preaching to the choir.
The Bible nuts will consider it blasphemy and damn the man to hell.
Or drunken incest????
Those are the good orgies, so . . . Yes. Absolutely, yes.
Only if the wine served was created from water
don't forget the fish sandwiches...
free admittance to old white people.
More like “bring a raft.” In 30 or 40 years, half of it will probably be underwater anyway. Then we can stop reading absurd stories that begin with “Florida man . . . “ or “Florida governor . . . “, etc.
There's always some crazy shit coming out of Florida.
LOL, good on ya Chaz.
I come and kiss your ring Don. I ask for your guidance.
Are recurring infanticides inappropriate for children?
Infanticides are certainly inappropriate for infants.
I always wondered that considering Herod killed every young boy in Israel when Jesus was born, why were Mary and Joseph so surprise Jesus drew attention when he showed up in Jerusalem for Passover when he was twelve? Seems like he would have stood out, being the only one there...
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