Those are just a few of the examples in the Bible. I would also ask you to not take the most shocking stories and hold them up and go "Oh my, look at that, how awful they treated women here!" without examining all the historical context and background.
Well, the reason why I have indeed pointed out some of the most shocking stories in the Bible is precisely that I feel such a strong need to keep the church and state separate. I do believe that if we allow the church and state to merge, and if we start believing that everything we find in the Bible is good, and if we take the Mosaic laws and make them our own laws, then we are going to end up with the same kind of barbaric society and the same kind of shocking ill-treatment of women as we can read about in the Old Testament.
But I have never tried to suggest that everything about the Bible is bad. Far from it. I think many things and many people in the Bible are inspiring, and Jesus is my personal favorite, hands down. But I like many things in the Old Testament, too. The story of Ruth is my favorite, but I love Song of Solomon too, and in spite of its occasional awful sexism I can nevertheless enjoy the world-weary poetry of Ecclesiastes and the practical wisdom of Proverbs. I, too, am moved by the sufferings of Job. And yes, I like parts of Genesis and Exodus and even of Judges. I've never said that these stories are not inspiring and in many cases uplifting!
What I
am saying, and here I'm not backing down a millimeter, is that if people claim that everything in the Bible is good, and if they say that we should have no separation between church and state, and if they say that the Bible should be made the law of our own modern western societies, then I'm going to keep repeating all the worst stories from the Bible. Because I don't want a religiously motivated society that gives itself the right in the name of God and the Bible to treat women atrociously.
Ann
