“Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?” Obama said. “Would we go with James Dobson’s or Al Sharpton’s?” referring to the civil rights leader.
…and then Obama goes on to cite some of the other admonitions in the Old Testament against things like eating shellfish - admonitions which are about as numerous as the anti-homosexual stuff - and wonders, why don’t the fundies cite those laws as vocally as they do the men-shouldn’t-lie-with-men-it’s-an-abomination stuff?
Dobson has the boilerplate answer:
Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament.
“I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology,” Dobson said.
“… He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.”
But my question is this, and maybe Helen or Pastor Dan can answer it:
Where in the New Testament does Jesus discuss homosexuality?
That’s a loaded question because I’m almost positive the answer is “nowhere” - although I’m certain there’s some explanation that he says these laws must be upheld vs. those laws, etc.
But it’s always seemed to me that if you’re going to be a Biblical literalist you’ve also got to be a bit of a mental contortionist as well. THIS BOOK IS TO BE INTERPRETED LITERALLY! Except, you know, this or that Old Testament passage which we are subsequently told is inoperative.
Update: Ouch, Pastor Dan is all over Dobson like white on rice:
You took the bait, hook, line, and sinker.
Because were you not such a bigoted, ignorant, miserable twit, you would have understood that Jesus said exactly nothing about abortion or homosexuality while your friends and colleagues have had plenty to say about Leviticus. Furthermore, you would have understood that without the Levitical code, there would be no objection to homosexuality in the Bible. It’s all built off the priestly code, and if one part of that code can be said to no longer apply, then all of it is provisional.
Except when it isn’t. Sure is easier to be an agnostic sometimes.
