Is the Bible racist, homophobic and sexist?
No but the people that read it and believe every word in it certainly are. The Bible is thousands of years old and written when times, attitudes and morals were very different than they are today. Basically it is irrelevant whether the Bible is sexist, racist, homophobic or anything else. Even 50-100 years ago the majority of people in the west would have regarded sexism, racism and homophobia as entirely acceptable forms of behaviour. Society has changed and moved on but the Bible remains fixed in the past, along with the fundamentalist fanatics who take every word as absolute truth and fail to place what the Bible says within the context in which it was written. Thus sexism, racism and homophobia should not be blamed so much on an ancient book as on the modern-day attitudes of a bigoted and narrow-minded group of its adherents.
Perhaps. While the Bible does (I believe) speak out against homosexuality, I would not call it “homophobic”. Homophobia is, at least how I’ve seen it in my own country where it is quite prevalent, nothing but a strong emotional reaction; an “unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality”. But the Bible explains why it has that stance; God did not create mankind for that purpose. I wouldn’t call the Bible sexist either. While there are differing “roles” for men and women presented therin, women are not put down. Indeed, many women are spoken of quite highly as the “capable woman” in Proverbs 31. Mary Magdalene was the first women to see Jesus in an age when a woman’s testimony was not taken seriously, showing either God’s own lack of sexism or how unique the writers were to come up with such a fanciful tale. Racist, definitely not. There are a variety of races mentioned in Scripture. Scholars argue that Zipporah, Moses’ wife, was probably black because she was a
Breathe easy, or as easy as you can. The Bible is a fairly accurate depiction of the times in which it was written. Overlaid by the vagaries of the King James Edition, which was later superseded by yet several other versions. Only one thing was constant, it was written by men. As such it reflects their own prejudices hopes and fears. Among them that slavery was a good thing with responsibilities on both sides, and women, well lets just say that despite stories showing powerful women, we did n’t come out too well by the Renaissance. I wonder though if it were you who had to obey the restrictive positions as posited by the Bible, of woman or slave if you would be so happy to remain there. Political correctness as a bad thing is in the mouth of the name caller. And watch those granny comments, not all grannies are ancient wrecks who put crocheted covers on Bibles and embroider roses on pillowcases.
The Bible has the aura of having been written by God … which considering it moderately well documented history is clearly false. It may have been written by people under the guidance of God, but presumably so was “The Origin of Species”, at least by that logic. In any case, it is a period piece – filled with lots of things that we consider intollerable today. Never-the-less, there are classic elements to many of the stories that allow them to be servicible today – which is pretty impressive, considering the age of the book. There is lots to learn from the Bible – but its a good idea to recognize it for what it is primarily – the ideas of people who have been dead for over 1500 years.
Had the book been translated and published today, I believe that there would have been a different take on certain issues. Keep in mind, the bible that most of y’all have out there is the King James version…comissioned by King James… would it not be in his best interest to put stuff in there that would maintain his control, educate the masses to behave in a manner which he saw fit, and take the idea of equality away from anyone that was different than him. That said, it is racist, it is sexist, it is homophobic, and xenophobic…
