Bruin Alliance of Skeptics and Secularists

Okay, this just irritates me. A few snippets from the article:

The spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans [Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams] has said conservative Christians who cite the Bible to condemn homosexuality are misreading a key passage written by Saint Paul almost 2,000 years ago.

…

“Paul is making a primary point not about homosexuality but about the delusions of the supposedly law-abiding.”

…

In the passage of Romans that Williams referred to in Monday’s speech, Paul said people who forgot God’s words fell into sin. “Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion,” Paul wrote.

Williams said these lines were “for the majority of modern readers the most important single text in Scripture on the subject of homosexuality.” But right after that passage, Paul warns readers not to condemn those who ignore God’s word.

What’s incredibly frustrating for me about this, is that although I agree with Williams’ conclusions–that gay people should not be discriminated against–I cannot disagree more with his reasoning.

First of all, what makes him so sure he is the one who is correctly reading the passage? Unless he has viewed the director’s commentary in the special features section of The Bible DVD, he has just as much information, text, and context to go off of as anyone else, gay-hating or not. One of the fascinating things about religious books of all types (Bible, Torah, Qur’an) is that you can validate just about any preexisting belief you have if you spin a few abstruse passages the right way. So, for starters, I doubt his alleged expertise on the matter.

But my real point here is how ridiculous it is that someone needs to check The Bible to find out whether or not they should hate gays. I don’t care what The Bible supposedly says on the subject when common sense alone dictates compassion and respect for other people (and the fact of the matter is that the people using The Bible to justify homophobia probably have the better-supported reading).

The Bible is not a good source of ethical guidance, plain and simple. No, you haven’t misread this post.

Opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of BASS or its other members.

Last 5 posts by Alan

• Sam Harris debate a success - April 23rd, 2007
• Dr. Phil blames video games - April 23rd, 2007
• How does a very intelligent and accomplished scientist reconcile his religious beliefs with his scientific knowledge? - April 19th, 2007
• The effect of abstinence-only sex education on teenage sexual behavior - April 14th, 2007
• Chiropractic revisited - April 1st, 2007