July 5, 2013
Of Clobber-texts and anti-clobber texts: The Bible is not a card game.
In his Slacktivist column for Patheos, Fred Clark talks about the way some Christians approach LGBT issues solely by quoting isolated Bible proof-texts. Such Christians give no consideration to the original historical, cultural context and meaning of these few verses, and use such proof-texts to condemn lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. At the same time, such Christians conveniently ignore basic scriptural principles, such as Micah 6:8, viewing them as irrelevant or inapplicable to the topic under discussion. As a springboard for his thoughtful discussion of how scripture can be used and misused, Clark cited one of our Christian Feminism Today articles, “There is more than one Christian view on homosexuality” by Letha Dawson Scanzoni. (You can read her original longer version of the article, with additional historical examples and quotations, here.)
