Conservatives Sweeping 'Liberal Bias' From Bible
Gandalf Grey
Conservatives Sweeping 'Liberal Bias' From Bible
by Antonia Zerbisias
Lo, last week, when news of the Conservative Bible Project broke on Twitter,
the Tweeple rang out with sarcasm.
Progressives fired off fake verses one might find rewritten by the "family
values'' fundamentalists behind Conservapedia, the so-called "trustworthy''
online information source for all things right-wing.
Verily I say unto thee, these U.S. conservatives, led by Andy Schlafly,
begat by Phyllis Schlafly, best known for stopping the equal rights for
women amendment, consider modern translations of the Bible to contain too
much "liberal bias.''
For example, the "economic parables'' aren't suffused with sufficient - I
kiddeth thee not - "full free-market meaning.''
To take that to its logical anti- socialist conclusion, when Jesus fed those
two little fishes and five loaves of bread to the multitude, he should have
charged the going market rate.
No wonder the lefty-libs on Twitter launched their snark attacks.
"Let my people GOP!''
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence I can see Russia."
"Physician, heal thyself. And your patients without insurance should heal
themselves, too."
"Suffer the little `preborn' children to come unto me, and forbid them not
dominion of women's bodies."
Now, you'd think that, considering all the fundamentalist keening and
wailing over, as many of them deem it, the abortion "holocaust,'' the Bible
has lots to say about the termination of pregnancy.
But it doth not, not according to some serious theological scholars.
In fact, according to the Washington-based Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice, which has many papers published on its website, one of
the few places it is mentioned is Exodus 21:22-25 - and even there, the
pregnant woman is considered to have "greater moral and religious worth than
the fetus.''
Yes, surprisingly, there are indeed people of faith who believe that
abortion is a choice "a woman must make for herself in keeping with her
faith, beliefs, conscience, and her own personal situation."
Yet, if you saw those "Life Chain'' demonstrators on street corners all over
town two Sundays ago, with signs equating abortion to murder, you would
think that religious groups have no regard at all for women's lives, health,
independence or, if you believe in that sort of stuff, souls.
That despite how Genesis 2:7 states: "Then the Lord God formed man of dust
from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul."
Which corresponds with Canada's legal definition of personhood, which
states, in much less florid language, that life begins after birth.
The thing about so many of these anti-choicers is, while they profess to be
pro-life, most are doing little or nothing to ensure that no child is born
unwanted, or that women get the support they need if they do go to term.
Such as state-funded daycare.
Instead, it's about taking women back to - conservative - Bible times. How
else to explain why they also advocate abstinence-only sex education? Why
not appeal to their church leaders to drop their prohibitions against
contraception?
In fact, many of these groups insist that, if a woman has sex, she should
face the consequences - as if having a baby as punishment is a good reason
to be a mother.
As for the woman, she doesn't matter.
According to numbers released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a
world-renowned research and policy institute on reproductive health, every
year, illegal abortions result in 70,000 deaths, with an additional five
million women getting treatment for complications resulting from unsafe
abortions.
Would Jesus want that?
Oh yes, say the Conservative Bible Project backers who insist that the
scriptures be rewritten to kill the "pervasive and hurtful myth that Jesus
would be a political liberal today.''
God help America.
--
NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
always been authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material
available to advance understanding of
political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. I
believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107
"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike,
that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in
this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud
of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing
of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to
which we are committed today at home and around the world.
"
-John F. Kennedy, 1961