Hate Takes a Holiday

Thank you, New York lawmakers. Thank you for overturning the ancient Mosaic Law that is at the root of our hate.Marriage for all

Slowly but surely, Americans are shedding their blind belief in ancient misconceptions about human sexuality. The weary “Bible makes it very clear” defense for homophobic belief and behavior is losing its hateful grip on otherwise reasonable people, folks who believe that the Bible is “the Word of God”—with the exceptions of the parts they don’t believe are true.

It is no small irony that people who consider homosexuality a choice made by naturally heterosexual humans selectively choose what is true in the 20th chapter of Leviticus: They consider it diabolical for a parent to murder a child for being disrespectful, and totally wacko for us to kill everyone we know who cheats on a spouse. But the Bible makes it very clear that we should do both. We’ve chosen not to believe it, just as we’ve chosen not to believe God said that menstruation is “a sickness,” as the Bible claims.

We also don’t banish a man from society if he lies with a menstruating woman—and send her packing, too. That says a lot about human nature and and adherence to the Bible when the only verse in the 20th chapter of Leviticus that we choose to embrace is verse 13. We flaunt it with great piety to belittle, bully, discriminate and even legislate against gays and lesbians.

Why don’t we go on a killing spree, as God mandated in the rest of the chapter? Because we choose to be smarter and more evolved than to do what the Bible tells us to do. Read More