Dear theists…a question.
To any religious people following me, or who happen across this I just want to ask something:
How do you decide which passages to ignore and which to shape your views/actions around?
I honestly don’t care if it sounds like a crass question laced with atheist-bitterness; when I don’t understand something I ask.
Why for instance do many Christians take the parts about homosexuality as a sin and shape their views (and ultimately their actions such as voting or general social conduct) by them, while ignoring so many other parts? Things about women needing to be virgins before marriage (or she gets killed), dietary or clothing restrictions.
How do you decide? Did you decide? Was it something you were taught by family or institution, or did you study your texts and come to those conclusions yourself?
And why is homosexuality such a big no-no for so many religious people, when by comparison to other subjects/sins it is mentioned relatively infrequently in the the bible? Why are teachings against homosexuality considered relavent, while so much isn’t considered so, even by the most dogmatic of theists?
Are there more theists who interpret their religious texts as to embrace and even celebrate same-sex love than the loud-shouting bigots would have us believe? Why aren’t they more vocal? Will there be more acceptance of homosexuality with each new generation of religious leaders?
Thoughts from coherant theists (and non-theists) on any of these wonderings would be great. If your answer is simply going to be “the bible says x, so x is wrong”, don’t bother. I’m asking you to THINK, not blindly quote dogma. That’s what your god gave you free will and an amazing brain for, right?