Michael Morris has given us another entertaining post on the opaque salve of religion, applied this time in the courtroom. The title of this post: "Claiming You’re Jesus’ BFF Can Prove You’re Sane . . . And Get You Killed!"
At Bible Funmentionables, Michael Morris points out some of the Bible's advice on child rearing:
The Bible has been held up as the pinnacle of moral authority, so when the Bible says, "Do not lie," we don't lie. When the Bible says, "Do not steal," we don't steal. So when the Bible says,"Kill your juvenile delinquents," do we really have any other choice? The Bible delivers many examples of bad parenting. Lot offers his daughters to the rapacious mob of Sodom, so that the mob would be okay with not having their way with his male house guests. Thoughtful host, worst parent ever. This is the same Lot that impregnated two of his daughters, and according to Wikipedia, "Christians and Muslims revere Lot as a righteous man of God." In the famous story of the sacrifice of Isaac, God at the very last minute stops Abraham from killing his son Isaac.Along with the above advice on child raising, I offer the follow Bible advice regarding family values (this is a posting on Facebook--I cannot determine the original creator of the image):
Morris offer much more advice from the Bible, all of it reprehensible, including the requirement that we kill people who gathers sticks on the sabbath —Numbers 15:32-36.
With regard to all of the above advice, the bottom line would seem to be this: Don't obey the Bible.
I thought I might write about something other than politics this morning, but some things are just too there to ignore. But perhaps this isn’t strictly about politics. Representative Paul Broun of Georgia recently said the following. I’m pulling the quote from news sources so I don’t get it wrong. “God’s word is true. I’ve come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology, Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. It’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior. There’s a lot of scientific data that I found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I believe that the Earth is about 9,000 years old. I believe that it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says. [More . . . ]
At "Bible Funmentionables," Michael Morris points out that Muslims are the only folks that are under orders to to kill blasphemers:
But let’s not get the mistaken notion that punishment for blasphemy is a uniquely Muslim idea. The Bible clearly comes down on the side of freedom FROM blasphemy as opposed to freedom of speech. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death. —Leviticus 24:16Then Morris raises a basic issue I hadn't considered. Why should religion deserve any special protection from criticism and insults?
No one likes to be insulted, but why is it that only one institution, religion, has its own name for insults hurled against it. I don’t call it blasphemy when someone berates my kid’s soccer team or ridicules the all-time best movie trilogy ever made on planet Earth!
How do you tell the difference between gibberish and theology? The experts apparently can't. This brings to mind Daniel Dennet's quote:
The philosopher Ronaldo de Souza once memorably described philosophical theology as "intellectual tennis without a net," and I readily allow that I have indeed been assuming without comment or question up to now that the net of rational judgement was up. But we can lower it if you really want to.You'll have some fun reading this Sokal-style abstract for the fake article that passed muster.