The Moderate Washingtonian

Outlook on politics and elections in the state of Washington from an overall centrist viewpoint. My views tend to be libertarian in nature, but at the same time are largely nonpartisan.

29 December 2005

Hutcherson, Lapin indeed hateful and hypocritical, but also idiots?

I couldn't help but chuckle at the lack of religious knowledge set forth by fundamentalists Rev. Ken Hutcherson and Rabbi Daniel Lapin in response to a pro-gay rights demonstration by Seattle area religious leaders in today's Seattle PI. Aside from the following condemnations, let me first say how pleasant it is to see religious leaders finally willing to stand up to the nutty right-wingers painting religion with a negative brush. Many (myself included) have been guilty of stereotyping all of the devout as the loudmouthed fundamentalists we so often hear. But, onto the idiocy:

First, Hutcherson claims the Bible is the "inerrant word of God." Anybody with a functioning brain knows this is bunk. God did not write the Bible. The Bible was written by many, many people, and translated into many languages over and over and over again. It is clearly not "inerrant" by its nature alone. Even Jesus' disciples had different versions of the course of events between their different books of the New Testament. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John differ markedly even in speaking of major events, including the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. The point is that humans are imperfect by nature, and the Bible is humanity's attempt at writing down the word of God. Therefore, reason stands to say that the Bible is not perfect nor the infallible word of God.

Next, Lapin defends the Book of Leviticus, quite possibly the nuttiest book in the entire Bible. Besides condemning homosexuality as an abomination, Leviticus also offers up the following nuggets of "wisdom," taken from the King James version of the Bible:

1. You may possess human slaves. Leviticus 25:44
2. You may not eat shellfish. Leviticus 11:10
3. You cannot get your hair cut short. Leviticus 19:27
4. You cannot come to the altar of God if you are disabled, or even have poor eyesight. Leviticus 21:18-21

These, among others, are examples of how outdated this ~3000 year old book is. I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that Hutcherson and Lapin have not been on any anti-shellfish, anti-barber, or anti-crippled crusades. But why are these not abominations in the modern world, but homosexuality is? Oh, right, it suits their theocratic agenda. These men and their followers are hypocrites and bigots by their own statements, but could they also be intellectually-challenged as well? Answer for yourself.

1 Comments:

At 5:10 PM, Blogger TMW said...

Yep. It's all about interpreting to suit their current needs. Everybody needs a good red herring now and then.

 

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