SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Conservatives Sweeping 'Liberal Bias' From Bible
Oct 14, 2009
Lo, last week, when news of the Conservative Bible Project broke on Twitter, the Tweeple rang out with sarcasm.
Progressives fired off fake verses one might find rewritten by the "family values'' fundamentalists behind Conservapedia, the so-called "trustworthy'' online information source for all things right-wing.
Verily I say unto thee, these U.S. conservatives, led by Andy Schlafly, begat by Phyllis Schlafly, best known for stopping the equal rights for women amendment, consider modern translations of the Bible to contain too much "liberal bias.''
For example, the "economic parables'' aren't suffused with sufficient - I kiddeth thee not - "full free-market meaning.''
To take that to its logical anti- socialist conclusion, when Jesus fed those two little fishes and five loaves of bread to the multitude, he should have charged the going market rate.
No wonder the lefty-libs on Twitter launched their snark attacks.
"Let my people GOP!''
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence I can see Russia."
"Physician, heal thyself. And your patients without insurance should heal themselves, too."
"Suffer the little `preborn' children to come unto me, and forbid them not dominion of women's bodies."
Now, you'd think that, considering all the fundamentalist keening and wailing over, as many of them deem it, the abortion "holocaust,'' the Bible has lots to say about the termination of pregnancy.
But it doth not, not according to some serious theological scholars.
In fact, according to the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which has many papers published on its website, one of the few places it is mentioned is Exodus 21:22-25 - and even there, the pregnant woman is considered to have "greater moral and religious worth than the fetus.''
Yes, surprisingly, there are indeed people of faith who believe that abortion is a choice "a woman must make for herself in keeping with her faith, beliefs, conscience, and her own personal situation."
Yet, if you saw those "Life Chain'' demonstrators on street corners all over town two Sundays ago, with signs equating abortion to murder, you would think that religious groups have no regard at all for women's lives, health, independence or, if you believe in that sort of stuff, souls.
That despite how Genesis 2:7 states: "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Which corresponds with Canada's legal definition of personhood, which states, in much less florid language, that life begins after birth.
The thing about so many of these anti-choicers is, while they profess to be pro-life, most are doing little or nothing to ensure that no child is born unwanted, or that women get the support they need if they do go to term.
Such as state-funded daycare.
Instead, it's about taking women back to - conservative - Bible times. How else to explain why they also advocate abstinence-only sex education? Why not appeal to their church leaders to drop their prohibitions against contraception?
In fact, many of these groups insist that, if a woman has sex, she should face the consequences - as if having a baby as punishment is a good reason to be a mother.
As for the woman, she doesn't matter.
According to numbers released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a world-renowned research and policy institute on reproductive health, every year, illegal abortions result in 70,000 deaths, with an additional five million women getting treatment for complications resulting from unsafe abortions.
Would Jesus want that?
Oh yes, say the Conservative Bible Project backers who insist that the scriptures be rewritten to kill the "pervasive and hurtful myth that Jesus would be a political liberal today.''
God help America.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 TheStar.com
Antonia Zerbisias
Antonia Zerbisias is a former columnist for the Toronto Star. She has been a reporter and TV host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as the Montreal correspondent for the trade paper, Variety.
Lo, last week, when news of the Conservative Bible Project broke on Twitter, the Tweeple rang out with sarcasm.
Progressives fired off fake verses one might find rewritten by the "family values'' fundamentalists behind Conservapedia, the so-called "trustworthy'' online information source for all things right-wing.
Verily I say unto thee, these U.S. conservatives, led by Andy Schlafly, begat by Phyllis Schlafly, best known for stopping the equal rights for women amendment, consider modern translations of the Bible to contain too much "liberal bias.''
For example, the "economic parables'' aren't suffused with sufficient - I kiddeth thee not - "full free-market meaning.''
To take that to its logical anti- socialist conclusion, when Jesus fed those two little fishes and five loaves of bread to the multitude, he should have charged the going market rate.
No wonder the lefty-libs on Twitter launched their snark attacks.
"Let my people GOP!''
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence I can see Russia."
"Physician, heal thyself. And your patients without insurance should heal themselves, too."
"Suffer the little `preborn' children to come unto me, and forbid them not dominion of women's bodies."
Now, you'd think that, considering all the fundamentalist keening and wailing over, as many of them deem it, the abortion "holocaust,'' the Bible has lots to say about the termination of pregnancy.
But it doth not, not according to some serious theological scholars.
In fact, according to the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which has many papers published on its website, one of the few places it is mentioned is Exodus 21:22-25 - and even there, the pregnant woman is considered to have "greater moral and religious worth than the fetus.''
Yes, surprisingly, there are indeed people of faith who believe that abortion is a choice "a woman must make for herself in keeping with her faith, beliefs, conscience, and her own personal situation."
Yet, if you saw those "Life Chain'' demonstrators on street corners all over town two Sundays ago, with signs equating abortion to murder, you would think that religious groups have no regard at all for women's lives, health, independence or, if you believe in that sort of stuff, souls.
That despite how Genesis 2:7 states: "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Which corresponds with Canada's legal definition of personhood, which states, in much less florid language, that life begins after birth.
The thing about so many of these anti-choicers is, while they profess to be pro-life, most are doing little or nothing to ensure that no child is born unwanted, or that women get the support they need if they do go to term.
Such as state-funded daycare.
Instead, it's about taking women back to - conservative - Bible times. How else to explain why they also advocate abstinence-only sex education? Why not appeal to their church leaders to drop their prohibitions against contraception?
In fact, many of these groups insist that, if a woman has sex, she should face the consequences - as if having a baby as punishment is a good reason to be a mother.
As for the woman, she doesn't matter.
According to numbers released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a world-renowned research and policy institute on reproductive health, every year, illegal abortions result in 70,000 deaths, with an additional five million women getting treatment for complications resulting from unsafe abortions.
Would Jesus want that?
Oh yes, say the Conservative Bible Project backers who insist that the scriptures be rewritten to kill the "pervasive and hurtful myth that Jesus would be a political liberal today.''
God help America.
Antonia Zerbisias
Antonia Zerbisias is a former columnist for the Toronto Star. She has been a reporter and TV host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as the Montreal correspondent for the trade paper, Variety.
Lo, last week, when news of the Conservative Bible Project broke on Twitter, the Tweeple rang out with sarcasm.
Progressives fired off fake verses one might find rewritten by the "family values'' fundamentalists behind Conservapedia, the so-called "trustworthy'' online information source for all things right-wing.
Verily I say unto thee, these U.S. conservatives, led by Andy Schlafly, begat by Phyllis Schlafly, best known for stopping the equal rights for women amendment, consider modern translations of the Bible to contain too much "liberal bias.''
For example, the "economic parables'' aren't suffused with sufficient - I kiddeth thee not - "full free-market meaning.''
To take that to its logical anti- socialist conclusion, when Jesus fed those two little fishes and five loaves of bread to the multitude, he should have charged the going market rate.
No wonder the lefty-libs on Twitter launched their snark attacks.
"Let my people GOP!''
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence I can see Russia."
"Physician, heal thyself. And your patients without insurance should heal themselves, too."
"Suffer the little `preborn' children to come unto me, and forbid them not dominion of women's bodies."
Now, you'd think that, considering all the fundamentalist keening and wailing over, as many of them deem it, the abortion "holocaust,'' the Bible has lots to say about the termination of pregnancy.
But it doth not, not according to some serious theological scholars.
In fact, according to the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which has many papers published on its website, one of the few places it is mentioned is Exodus 21:22-25 - and even there, the pregnant woman is considered to have "greater moral and religious worth than the fetus.''
Yes, surprisingly, there are indeed people of faith who believe that abortion is a choice "a woman must make for herself in keeping with her faith, beliefs, conscience, and her own personal situation."
Yet, if you saw those "Life Chain'' demonstrators on street corners all over town two Sundays ago, with signs equating abortion to murder, you would think that religious groups have no regard at all for women's lives, health, independence or, if you believe in that sort of stuff, souls.
That despite how Genesis 2:7 states: "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Which corresponds with Canada's legal definition of personhood, which states, in much less florid language, that life begins after birth.
The thing about so many of these anti-choicers is, while they profess to be pro-life, most are doing little or nothing to ensure that no child is born unwanted, or that women get the support they need if they do go to term.
Such as state-funded daycare.
Instead, it's about taking women back to - conservative - Bible times. How else to explain why they also advocate abstinence-only sex education? Why not appeal to their church leaders to drop their prohibitions against contraception?
In fact, many of these groups insist that, if a woman has sex, she should face the consequences - as if having a baby as punishment is a good reason to be a mother.
As for the woman, she doesn't matter.
According to numbers released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a world-renowned research and policy institute on reproductive health, every year, illegal abortions result in 70,000 deaths, with an additional five million women getting treatment for complications resulting from unsafe abortions.
Would Jesus want that?
Oh yes, say the Conservative Bible Project backers who insist that the scriptures be rewritten to kill the "pervasive and hurtful myth that Jesus would be a political liberal today.''
God help America.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.