Things banned in the Bible, most of which are punishable by death

Milan - detail from facade of Duomo - Expulsion from Paradise. Image: Shutterstock.

An oldie but goodie single-purpose Tumblr listing things banned in Leviticus, the banny-est of all scriptures. The sex stuff you can imagine (no bonking animals, dudes if you are a dude, divorcées, your grandmother, or your own children), but here are some particularly weird non-sex items in the list:

• Eating any animal which walks on all four and has paws (good news for cats) (11:27) 
• Picking up grapes that have fallen in your vineyard (19:10) 
• Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19) 
• Cross-breeding animals (19:19) 
• Eating fruit from a tree within four years of planting it (19:23) 
• Trimming your beard (19:27) 
• Getting tattoos (19:28) 
• Not standing in the presence of the elderly (19:32) 
• Mistreating foreigners – “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (19:33-34) 
• Using dishonest weights and scales (19:35-36) 
• Blasphemy (punishable by stoning to death) (24:14) 
• Selling land permanently (25:23)

How America’s Biblical ignorance enables the Christian right

The Bible doesn’t mention anything about contraception or abortion, but this hasn’t stopped 89 million American evangelicals acting as if “thou shall not consume a pregnancy pill” were one of the Ten Commandments. For the benefit of my mostly American audience, it’s not. In fact, the first four of the Hebrew God’s Decalogue amount to nothing more than “maniacal throat clearing,” to steal a phrase from the late Christopher Hitchens.

The decision of the five conservative justices to rule in favor of Hobby Lobby, thus granting religious personhood to 90 percent of U.S. corporations, which means that certain for-profit companies may refuse to cover forms of birth control they find morally objectionable, has been debated from every angle except one: the theological perspective.

An overwhelming majority of hyper-religious Americans, and Americans in general, are incapable of debating the theological aspect of their faith. Not only do a staggering majority of Americans have no idea what is or isn’t written in the Bible, they have not a morsel of knowledge as it pertains to just about all aspects of historical context and biblical scholarship.

At a time of heightened controversy surrounding women’s reproductive rights, most discourse relies upon the political, philosophical and legal dimensions of access to abortion and contraception. In almost all instances, religious traditions and theological perspectives are not fully explored beyond an occasional reference to the biblical commandment, “thou shall not kill.” The nation’s collective biblical ignorance not only prevents any reasonable theological debate, but also allows Christian fundamentalists, like Hobby Lobby and its Christian Right supporters, to contort scripture to their own advantage.

Did ya? Did ya know?

* Of 32,000 verses in the Bible, only five directly mention homosexuality.

* The Qur'an only directly mentions homosexuality once.

* Leviticus, the book of the Bible which stipulates death for homosexuality, requires the same punishment for adultery, pre-marital sex, disobedient children and blasphemy.

* The Biblical Jesus does not condemn homosexuality.

* The destruction of the Biblical city of Sodom was due to their mistreatment of strangers.

* The Bible never condemns same sex marriage.

* The Biblical David and Jonathan had a formal same-sex union.

* 'Traditional marriage' in the Bible includes polygamy.

* No known sacred text forbids same sex marriage.

* Very few sacred texts even mention homosexuality.

* Hindu and other far eastern sacred texts do not condemn homosexuality.

* Homosexuality is not unnatural, it is practiced by hundreds of species of animals.

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Taking God at His Word: The Bible and Homosexuality

Excerpt from the book UNFAIR: Christians and the LGBT Question by John Shore:

God does not ask us to choose between compassion and faith in the Bible.

Christians are increasingly divided over the issue of the acceptance and inclusion of gay persons into the church. The debate itself is usually framed as essentially pitting the Bible, on one hand, against compassion and social justice on the other. Our Christian hearts, runs the (usually impassioned) argument, compel us to grant full moral and legal equality to gay and lesbian people; our Christian faith, comes the (usually impassioned) rebuttal, compels us to cleave, above all, to the word of God.

Compassion for others is the fundamental cornerstone of Christian ethics; the Bible is the bedrock of the Christian faith. What Christian can possibly choose between the two?

The answer is that no Christian is called upon to make that choice. The text of the Bible on one hand, and full equality for gay and lesbian people on the other, is a false dichotomy. God would not ask or expect Christians to ever choose between their compassion and their faith.

Reconciling the Bible with unqualified acceptance and equality for LGBT people does not necessitate discounting, recasting, or deconstructing the Bible. All it takes is reading those passages of the Bible wherein homosexuality is mentioned with the same care that we would any other passage of the book.

We can trust God; we can trust that God is loving.

And we can trust that we can—and that we certainly should—take God, in this matter, as in all things, at his word.

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Just saying....

Representative Brings The House Down With A Single Sentence

Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims took a stand to stop House Bill 818, legislation that would prohibit state-run insurance from covering abortions. This would effectively ban any Affordable Care Act insurance plans from covering abortion costs. Translation: Lower-income women in need of abortions can't afford them. The quote of the year starts at 0:07 and ends at 0:16.