I agree with Steve Green in that we should not keep anyone "ignorant" as to how the bible has "impacted our world, unlike any other." For instance, everyone should know that the bible gave rise to the Christian Crusades where, for over 400 years, throughout the Middle East and Europe millions of non-Christians were massacred in the name of the Christian God simply for not being Christians. Crusades occurred, roughly, between the years 1059-1444.

Another example I think everyone should know is the Inquisition Period, which lasted around 686 years, where Inquisitors massacred millions of people of whom they merely "thought" were not Christians. The Inquisition period occurred, roughly, between the years 1184 - 1870. Yes, 1870 ... five years after America's Civil War ended. So, yes, I agree with Steve Green in that everyone should know that for centuries people have been using the God in the bible to justify massacring millions of people.

But, since Steve Green, nor the Mustang School District, which approved Green's Bible Curriculum, have made his 4 year bible curriculum public, I have no idea if his bible class will include all the murder in the bible or all the murder enacted in the name of the bible.

By the way, I should note here that facts around Green's 4 year Bible Curriculum are confusing and a little contradictory. As it turns out, since November 2013, the Mustang School Districts' Superintendent, Sean McDaniel has been saying the Board would not approve Green's 4 year Bible class until they (the Board) had seen the curriculum. But, in June 2014, McDaniel admitted the curriculum is not a finished product.

Also, in May 2014, the AP reported that Superintendent McDaniel and Steve Green may have violated Oklahoma state laws when they met with Board members without having a quorum.

Steve Green's 4 year Bible Curriculum:

In November 2013, the Mustang Newspaper reported that Superintendent Sean McDaniel said Green's bible curriculum will go through a curriculum committee before going before the school board for approval.



McDaniel said the course, along with any new courses, would go through a curriculum committee before going before the school board for approval.

McDANIEL: "We would have all the documents, text books, everything for the board to review before taking action." (emphasis mine)

[On April 14, 2014] The board voted in favor of approving the curriculum entitled ‘The Book, the Bible’s History, Narrative and Impact of the World’s Best selling Book’ (emphasis mine)

The paper went on to report:And in April 2014 the Mustang news wrote:Curriculum? What curriculum?

In May, 2014, the Mustang News reported:

McDaniel said new curriculum at Mustang Public Schools goes through two committees before going before the school board before approval. "We have a curriculum committee that reviews any new curriculum and that committee is made up of teachers, parents and administrators," he said. "We also have a textbook committee that looks at the textbooks that would be used in the new curriculum." (emphasis mine)

McDANIEL: “There have been 12-plus drafts so far, by the time we’re finished it will probably be in the neighborhood of 20 revisions." ~Sean McDaniel June 12, 2014 - the Mustang News

June 12, 2014, Mustang news reported no officials have had a chance to review the final proposed GSI curriculum because the curriculum is not in final form.See ... McDaniel is saying a lot of contradictory things. The bottom line is, Steve Green's 4 year bible curriculum - which is new - didgo through two committeesbecause there no one has seen the final draft of Green's bible curriculum.

So, it seems, Superintendent McDaniel was misleading when he said, in November 2013, that Green's bible curriculum will go through a curriculum committee before going before the school board for approval.

Possible Violation of State Laws:

In May 2014, it was reported that Steve Green and Mustang School Board may have violated state laws when they (the Board) met without a quorum in private with Steve Green to discuss Green's Bible class.

On May 21, 2014 Bailey Elise McBride of the AP reported that Steve Green did not want the public's input:



"The April 14 meetings with Steve Green and other members of the Bible curriculum team occurred just hours before the Mustang School Board approved the course as an elective for the fall. The Mustang superintendent acknowledged insisting on separate presentations so the public wouldn't have to be invited, and did so at the direction of Green and his public relations representatives. " (emphasis mine)

"I want to emphasize again that per my conversation with Ashleigh and the decision to break into two groups, that this will not be a public meeting," Superintendent Sean McDaniel wrote in one of the emails obtained under an Open Records Act request, referring to a woman at the Saxum public relations company, which represents Hobby Lobby and helped set up the meetings. (emphasis mine)

"This was something that we wanted to be able to have conversation about and ask questions. If we have the media and the public coming into Hobby Lobby headquarters with us, that can just be confusing and awkward since we're all seeing it for the first time," McDaniel said in an interview. "My thought was, 'Hey, let's hold off on having a public meeting until we see a little more." (emphasis mine)

the statute prohibits serial meetings in which one member obtains a consensus upon an item of business through a series of private one-on-one meetings, according to a 1981 attorney general opinion. (1981 OK AG 69, ¶ 17) That prohibition on serial meetings also applies to the assistants of members of public bodies, then-District Attorney C. Wesley Lane II warned Oklahoma County commissioners in 2005.

The PR Firm, Saxum takes care of Hobby Lobby's public relations and employs a woman named "Ashleigh." The AP reported that it was Ashleigh who told Superintendent McDaniel that Steve Green did not want any public input.The AP reported that in a May interview, Superintendent McDaniel said the public wasn't invited because it would have been "awkward."The FOI Oklahoma reported: Public meeting? What public meeting?

In May 2014, The Mustang news reported that McDaniel meant to have a public meeting but he and the 5 Board members could not coordinated their schedules ... so tough luck public:



McDaniel said the board intended to hold a special meeting to review the digital component of the curriculum. (emphasis mine)

McDANIEL: "We had every intention to hold a special meeting in front of the public, but the schedules of the board members conflicted and we were not able to have a quorum present. So instead, we invited all five board members to come to Hobby Lobby's headquarters to see a presentation on the digital aspect of the curriculum." (emphasis mine)

McDANIEL: "The law is clear on open meetings and one of the things it says is that you cannot have a quorum without having the meeting posted and in public. There was never a quorum at any time. All we did was eat sandwiches, watch a video and went home." ~Superintendent Sean McDaniel - The Mustang News (emphasis mine)

McDANIEL: "The article by the Associated Press mentions that Steve Green and myself were present at both of the meetings with the board members, and that doesn't violate any law because neither of us are board members. None of the board members were at both presentations." ~Superintendent Sean McDaniel - The Mustang News

McDaniel went on to say:Here's where it gets dicey:Then this makes McDaniel and Steve Green's actions even more dicey:The current Oklahoma County prosecutor told the AP that no one at one meeting could be present at the other to give information to the other school board members.

Wowzeeey ... McDaniel and Steve Green really set those meetings up in a very cleverly and very deceitfully ... now that's Christianity at work!

To date, there has not been any public meeting regarding Steve Green's Bible Curriculum. However, on July 1, 2014, the Mustang News reported that finally, on July 22, 2014, there will be a public meeting to discuss Steve Green's 4 year bible curriculum.



A public meeting will be held this month to discuss the new Bible history elective class that was approved by the Mustang School Board earlier this year. James Huff will lead the meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, July 22 at 6 p.m. at the Mustang Public Library. "This meeting is for anyone that is interested in discussing what kind of information should be included about the Bible in a public school classroom," Huff said.

Before voting on the curriculum on Monday, the board heard from Norman Berry, a concerned citizen who said he wished the board would not approve the course. "I am a former employee of the school system and I have three grandkids going to school in this district," Berry said. "I am totally opposed to this class. I believe this is why our founding fathers created ‘separation of church and state.’ Berry said he believed there needed to be more public opinion about the course.

"I feel kind of upset that a well-known figure can come in here and push his agenda in regards to this class," he said. "I encourage the board to step back and think about this, it could save you a lot of trouble. Belief’s should be taught in places of worship."

Mandating Steve Green's 4 year Bible Curriculum:

In the April 14, 2014 Mustang newspaper, it was reported that one man was angry that there were no public meetings prior to the Mustang School Board approving Green's Bible curriculum:

In November 2013, Steve Green may have given insight into a legal defense to mandate Green's 4 year Bible class in the public school.

First, Steve Green told the Board that it is legal in most states to teach the Bible as an elective course. Then Green told the Board that Life Magazine listed the printing of the bible as number one on their ‘100 most important events in the past 1,000 years.’



STEVE GREEN: "Number one was Gutenberg printing the Bible. The History Channel listed 101 objects that changed the world. Guess what number one was. The Bible. Imagine a school that would not teach about Columbus, which was number two on the list. Or imagine a school that would not teach about Luther and the Reformation in history class or the Industrial Revolution. Can you imagine these things not being taught, but number one is not." ~ Hobby Lobby President Steve Green reported by Mustang News (emphasis mine)

Yeah, SCOTUS, imagine not teaching the bible since Life Magazine listed Gutenberg's printing of the bible as numero uno?

But wait! Steve Green must not be familiar with high school US History because, in high school US History class students learn that the printing press was invented Johann Gutenberg, a German printer, who was the first in Europe to print using movable type and the first to use a press. Students are taught that the first book he mass printed was the bible and then used for war declarations, battle accounts, treaties, propaganda, and enhanced literacy because there were books on a variety of subjects.

Oh well ...

As I wrote above, Steve Green has admitted he wants his 4 year bible curriculum to be mandatory but, he realizes that in order to 'creep' his 4 year bible curriculum into the public school system it must start off as an 'elective.'

In order to 'creep' his curriculum into the school system, Steve Green created a 501(c)3 called "Museum of the Bible Inc." Then, Steve Green created the "Green Scholars Initiative" (GSI) to run the "Museum" and to create his bible curriculum for schools.

The Mission Statement of Steve Green's tax exempt organization, Museum of the Bible Inc, is:

TO BRING TO LIFE THE LIVING WORD OF GOD, TO TELL ITS COMPELLING STORY OF PRESERVATION, AND TO INSPIRE CONFIDENCE IN THE ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE BIBLE.

Legality of teaching the Bible in public schools:

To be clear, public school systems are legally allowed to teach the bible, along with other historical documents, and even religions, in public schools so long as the curriculum is neutral and does not promote any one religion.

In the 1950s, Pennsylvania Statute said:

“At least ten verses of the Holy Bible shall be read, without comment, at the opening of each public school on each school day. Any child shall be excused from such Bible reading, or attending Bible reading, upon the written request of his parent or guardian.” 1950's PA Statute (later found Un-Constitutional)

Ok, so the Pennsylvania statute made 'reading 10 bible versus' an-- so -- did that fact that it was 'elective' mean it was Constitutional?

ANSWER: no.

In 1963, The Supreme Court ruled the Pennsylvania statute violated the Constitution and wrote:

We hold that the practices at issue and the laws requiring them are unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause, as applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment ... [n]either a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. ~ Abington Pennsylvania School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963).

The Court ruled that the government is neutral, and, while protecting all religions, it prefers none, and it disparages none.

Looking at the Mission Statement of the group (GSI) tasked with drafting Green's goal to mandate a 4 year public school curriculum is to "bring to life" the "absolute authority and reliability of the Bible" the questions become and reading the AP's description of the draft curriculum: "The curriculum says people should rest on the Sabbath because God did so after six days of creation, and says people risk God's punishment if they do not obey him. "

1) would Steve Green's goal, to have school boards mandate a 4 year bible curriculum, written by GSI, pass the government "neutrality" requirement found within the Constitution?

2) does Steve Green's 'elective' bible curriculum, written by GSI, pass the neutrality requirement found within the Constitution?

I think it is very important to highlight the fact that as of June 2014, the Mustang School District has said that Steve Green's Bible curriculum is not a finished product and is still going through changes, yet in December 2013, the Mustang School District's Superintendent, Sean McDaniel said "We would have all the documents, text books, everything for the board to review before taking action."

The Mustang newspaper reported that in December, 2013, the Curriculum Committee looked over Green's Bible class curriculum and material of and sent it out to students in a pre-enrollment packet to see how many public school students would be interested in it.

Superintendent Sean McDaniel:

McDANIEL: "When we sent out our pre-enrollment packets [in December 2013] we saw that over 170 kids wanted to take this class,"

I am curious as to what was in the pre-enrollment packet because in December, 2013, Green's Bible Curriculum was not a finished product.

I will end this diary with the words of rightwing conservative, 1964 Republican nominee for US President, Barry Goldwater

