the bible

Sexuality/Gender

Should Gays and Lesbians Argue Scripture? A Dialogue

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Recently, on The Huffington Post, Rev. Chellew-Hodge suggested that gays and lesbians should never argue Scripture—in particular, the half dozen “clobber verses” that some people interpret against gays. Why? Because nobody wins, everyone’s opinion hardens, and we talk past each other, because gays and lesbians are usually not biblical literalists, while our opponents usually are. Chellew-Hodge’s suggestion sounds wise, but I want to respectfully disagree with it.

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Politics/Law

Congress Reads the Constitution, Tea Party-Style

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The Tea Party-inspired constitutional recitation of January 6 immediately ran into the problems any fundamentalism has with sacred scripture: what do you do with the parts that speak to the original intent of an entirely different era—stoning adulterers, casting down fire on one’s enemies, selling all one’s possessions and giving to the poor, requiring the return of runaway slaves, and counting slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation?

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Politics/Law

Why Can’t We Take Death Seriously? The Obama Administration’s Latest Retreat

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The truth is that the administration simply caved before the still potent specter of so-called “Death Panels”—a specter created last year by the likes of Sarah Palin, John Boehner, and other disingenuous opponents of health care reform. Let’s just say that in this new year, Team Obama is worried to death (pardon the expression) about defending its signature health care law from further assaults from the newly-emboldened Republicans. 

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Sexuality/Gender

Sex and Civilization: The Body as Battleground

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Today, we often are told that the hysterical ravings of the New Christian Right (NCR) are a pathological homophobia, or perhaps a displaced and sublimated yearning for homoeroticism. Doubtless both play a role, but I want to suggest that homosexuality does threaten civilization, when viewed from a certain perspective, and that it has been seen this way since biblical times. 

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