By Cenk Uygur
The religious right picks and chooses which parts of the Bible they want to apply. And they choose based on which outsider group they would like to hate next. First, they emphasized slavery in the Bible when they wanted to hate black people. Now, they emphasize the parts condemning homosexuality so they can hate gay people.
They are completely and utterly disingenuous. They don't mean a word of it. They don't give a damn what the Bible says. They just want to use it as an instrument of hate.
The Bible says eating shellfish is an abomination. Yet there are no Red Lobster Amendments. The Bible says you shall not wear two different types of cloths at the same time. Yet there are no Propositions against cotton and wool combos.
The Bible says you should leave your family and join Jesus Christ. The religious right pretends that Jesus was about family values. He wanted you to abandon your family. Read the Bible.
The religious right pretends that the Bible says marriage is between one man and one woman. But that is a bald faced lie. Have any of these people ever read the Bible? The Bible is full of men taking on second wives, servants, prostitutes and concubines. And all the while, God heartily approves. How many wives did King David have? Eight? Twelve? Let alone his possibly gay lover, Jonathan.
Now the Bible says that a man shall not lie with another man. That is true. But it also says, in the same exact book, that adultery is an abomination. And the just punishment for this sin is execution. So, who will execute the first adulterer? Please step on up. May the one without any Biblical sin cast the first stone.
Here is a question no one can answer -- and lucky for the right wing, the media never bothers to ask -- why do you only focus on the part of the Bible against homosexuality but not on the part against adultery? It's one thing to say you're against adultery; it's another to take away their rights. How come no religious figure in this country has mounted a campaign to take away the rights of adulterers? Let alone execute them.
I'll tell you why. Because there are too many of them. Their followers are adulterers. They don't make for good scapegoats. They are not an easy target to ostracize and focus your hatred on. Gays are perfect. They are a small enough percentage of the population and different enough from the rest of us to be able to get people to focus their negative, barbaric instincts on them. The Bible is only a tool for this tribal, ugly tactic.
But I am tired of hearing people saying that homosexuality is a sin in the Bible when they never quote the rest of the Bible (probably because a great majority of church goers have never independently read the Bible or they have built up a reservoir of excuses for the parts they find inconvenient). So, from now, I would like to tell the Rick Warrens of the world, you are perfectly allowed to say how much you would like to take gay people's rights away from them based on the Bible so long as you agree to do one thing first -- execute an adulterer.
If you can do that for me, then I'll believe that you actually believe in the Bible literally and will accept your literal argument against homosexuality. Fair is fair. Step on up.
PS -- In case anyone is a maniacal literalist, please do not actually attempt to execute any adulterers or anyone else. Check yourself into a mental hospital instead because the seven headed dragon in Revelations could be out to get you.
Jude's Note: I just love finding things like this that express exactly what I think.
My-Wardrobe.com
Kiki's not: me too!
1
note! Kiki's note...
2Interesting rant.
Not sure where or what you are referring to in the Bible to support your statement that Christians hate black people, or that Christians were behind the slavery of the African people. The Bible does refer to slavery, it goes way back to the Egyptians. I would be interested in reading the specifics that you refer to.
Can you include the verse in the Bible where it says "the just punishment for this sin is execution." And I assume it says execution by the people rather than by God Himself.
It is horrible that your perception of Christians is a group of people that hate. The Bible does not teach hate.
3Well lazy, back in the days of slavery this is how slavery was justified for many, the Bible told them it was. Even if it does not say so that is how their interpretation was of the Bible. This is the same as the Bible hating black people, a lot of white supremacy groups site the Bible (especially the KKK) as their justification. I totally understand the rant. Anyone can use the Bible for just cause for their interpretation of their means - it has been done for centuries.
Can any policy,however high minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption,imprisons so many,has so racist an effect,destroys our inner cities,wreaks havoc on misguided & vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?
4Lazybones, you appear to be addressing me as if I'm the one who wrote the article. I'm not; I just happen to share the vast majority of opinions expressed here. But since Cenk Uygur isn't available for comment, here you go:
"Not sure where or what you are referring to in the Bible to support your statement that Christians hate black people, or that Christians were behind the slavery of the African people."
"The Curse of Ham (also called the curse of Canaan) refers to the curse that Ham's father Noah placed upon Ham's son Canaan, after Ham "saw his father's nakedness" because of drunkenness in Noah's tent. It is related in the Book of Genesis 9:20-27.
Some Biblical scholars see the "curse of Ham" story as an early Hebrew rationalization for Israel's conquest and enslavement of the Canaanites, who were presumed to descend from Canaan.[1]
The "curse of Ham" had been used by some members of Abrahamic religions to justify racism and the enslavement of people of Black African ancestry, who were believed to be descendants of Ham."
Source
"Can you include the verse in the Bible where it says "the just punishment for this sin is execution.""
"Under the law of Moses the penalty was death by stoning. (Deuteronomy 22:21 ff, John 8:4,5)."
Source
And finally:
"It is horrible that your perception of Christians is a group of people that hate."
I by no means make any kind of broad generalization that Christians are a group of people that hate. My issue with the religion and certain of its followers is that it is often used by unscrupulous and not truly devout people to promote hate and justify it. Two different things altogether.
5Lazy, my response to you, including an explanation of the passages of the Bible which have been used to justify anti-black racism and slavery (regarding Ham, Noah's son) and the punishment of adultery by stoning and my response to your assertion that I think all Christians hate (which is not true), was flagged, but it will show up soon.
Just to clarify, I didn't write this blog as you seem to think--the author is Cenk Uygur, who is cited at the top of the post. But I do agree with his points.
6I don't think you can blame the Bible for ignorant people like the KKK using as justification. I have to disagree until you show me where, that the Bible tells anyone to hate people based on the color of their skin.
You are doing exactly what you say the Bible does. You are taking half truths and making a blanket statement of hate. In your case, it is Christianity.
7For one I never said I blame the Bible, you are jumping the gun and putting words in my mouth. I said I understand where the blog was coming from b/c of how others have used it throughout history.
Can any policy,however high minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption,imprisons so many,has so racist an effect,destroys our inner cities,wreaks havoc on misguided & vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?
8Oh, and one more thing: neither the author of this article nor I have said that our "perception of Christians is a group of people that hate." He mentions the religious right, the segment of Christians who selectively use the Bible to promote discrimination and intolerate. This is by no means the majority of Christians, nor have I ever said so. So don't twist that into some kind of assumed attack against all Christians.
9Lazybones, you are completely missing the point. This post is not about the Bible teaching hate. This post is about other people twisting the Bible to justify their hate and discrimination. That is not the same thing at all.
If you're going to attack us for daring to say that we disagree with the way the Bible and religion are twisted and used to promote very un-Christian things, then there's no point in discussion, because again you are completely missing the point.
10In fact, if you actually read the blog carefully, you will see that the author does not "blame the Bible" at all. He is, in fact, pointing out that the racists and homophobes who use the Bible to justify their hate are themselves not following or citing the Bible completely.
11That is why I don't understand why the jumping of the gun. No one said it was the Christian faith or the religion just those who are extreme and are twisting the Word for their on evil and misgivings.
Can any policy,however high minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption,imprisons so many,has so racist an effect,destroys our inner cities,wreaks havoc on misguided & vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?
12It could actually be seen as defending the Bible against those who seek to use it for their own nefarious purposes.
13I just wanted to know where you were getting the information stated. For instance, the people who were in favor of slavory hated blacks? Each of you seems to be coming out with blanket statements like they are known truths. If they are known truths, I just don't know them.
14If you wait until my original flagged response shows up, you will see both the explanation of how the story about Ham was used against blacks and where in the Bible it is stated that adultery is punishable by stoning to death, Lazybones. Or you can Google the story of Ham or the Biblical punishment for adultery yourself. And I do believe that both are considered to be known facts. Just because you don't know them doesn't mean they don't exist.
15Now I understand Lazy. I have researched, done a lot of papers, and went to seminars in the study and the subject. It is pretty much out there if you want to research it on your on. I did a quick search for you and posted some links below. They will give you a general overview but more indept research will be needed.
http://atheism.about.com/library/weekly/aa112598.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_slav1.htm
http://www.racematters.org/noahscurseslaverysrationale.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=R4C_q10A0mcC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=slaver...
Some books:
Noah's Curse : The Biblical Justification of American Slavery (Religion in America Series)
Down, Up, and Over By Dwight N. Hopkins
Can any policy,however high minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption,imprisons so many,has so racist an effect,destroys our inner cities,wreaks havoc on misguided & vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?
16Well I also posted some websites and books to start off as initial research but they will appear b/c they were flagged.
Can any policy,however high minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption,imprisons so many,has so racist an effect,destroys our inner cities,wreaks havoc on misguided & vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?
17Lazy: Blacks were used for easy property identification. I'm assigning you some homework: look up the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" and why he wrote it. Report back to this group and apologize. "Ignorance is the tool of the incompetent that build monuments of nothing".
18GKitty, I forgot to add that book in my initial research list. I love that book. I will be glad when my flagged items appear.
Can any policy,however high minded, be moral if it leads to widespread corruption,imprisons so many,has so racist an effect,destroys our inner cities,wreaks havoc on misguided & vulnerable individuals and brings death and destruction to foreign countries?
19The author of the song "Amazing Grace" CLUE: he was a slave owner.
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