Not familiar with him, but this piece is well written and he makes a good case.

I like the term "leviticans".

Thanks for bringing this here.

― W. Somerset Maugham

~My~ soul is God-approved, 99 44/100 percent pure. Even Mr Whipple couldn't resist squeezing this one.

Look what they've done to my soul, ma..

Thanks for the earworm. Here's a surprisingly good remake.

Miley covers Dylan.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10341544

"Christian fundamentalist" is an oxymoron, along the lines of "born again".

Christians have been screaming at each other since the first schism over who's the "real" Christian. This article seems to just be more of the same. If it were so simple to determine what the bible says, and what the teachings of Jesus are, why is there such disagreement, and why has it lasted 2000 years? Doesn't god want to see its children get along?

Are the "Leviticans" evil? Stupid? Are they secretly atheists? Hey, guess what - they're asking the same questions about liberal Christians. And with both sides so rigidly sure they they are right, and the "others" are wrong, and both sides absolutely certain that logic and reason are invalid to try and resolve this impasse, gee, what a surprise that nothing changes.

The Bible has zilch to say about abortion (except for a passage that can be read as prescribing a religiously sanctioned abortion as proof that a woman has been unfaithful), but the fundies crusade against it anyway. This is about appointing themselves the grand inquisitors of sex. The Bible comes into it because it dates from a time when the patriarchy they support was deep and pervasive. So if they can succeed in freezing interpretation of the Bible in more patriarchal times, they can use it as a weapon of convenience.

There are passages they can interpret. The whole "In the womb I knew ye" or whatever.

I really don't think it does much good to just say other Christians that they aren't interpreting the bible correctly. Has that ever worked? Isn't that exactly what the fundies say about liberal Christians, too?

Liberals turned out to be right then, to the point that if you ask conservatives about it today, they'll deny that the Bible could ever truly support slavery.

Popular opinion turned against slavery. This doesn't say anything to whether an anti-slavery interpretation of scripture is accurate.

They rarely follow all those rules about burnt offerings, or about how to farm. They mostly don't pay much attention to the ruling that if you commit adultery with someone else's wife you should be put to death quite as much as if you do so with a man, while if you have sex with a woman on her period, both of you should be 'cut off from your people'.

They certainly rarely follow the following advice:

“‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt."

interpretations of Leviticus to fit their purposes.

I love the "Dear Doctor Laura" letter on this.