Friday, March 4, 2011

Homosexuality and the Bible.

Jennifer Wright Knust and Robert A. J. Gagnon are disagreeing on CNN's webpage about what the Bible's take on homosexuality is. I suppose I understand why People might want to challenge conservative Christians with the book they find support for their beliefs in. I understand why conservative Christians and biblical scholars more generally would want to argue about what is in the bible. What I don't understand is why it matters what the Bible's position on homosexuality. The Bible's position on slavery and women's rights is pretty clear. It is also pretty clear, if you give it a little thought, that the Bible is not the word of God but the word of early Christians, and even if it is the word of God it is the word of God meant for early Christians. Presumably God would be smart enough to target his message and smart enough to know that the world he 'created' changes over time. Plus, it is important to remember that the Bible is not the only source of information. If you want to point to the Bible in the debate over homosexuality, fine ... but I get to point out what else is in the bible, and we also have to talk about the Constitution and American ideals and the struggle for civil rights and how this impacts anybody other than the homosexuals in question and how this impacts homosexuals. All of that together makes for a conversation worth having, a conversation as opposed to a shouting match or a tit for tat exchange like the one on CNN. Besides, a discussion of whether the Bible supports homosexuality isn't that interesting.

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