991d5c0c   
   XPost: alt.activism.drug-war, alt.drugs.psychedelics   
   From: joelcrump@gmail.com   
      
   Brother Nate  wrote:   
      
   >> >I'd like to think that we're getting clearer as time goes on,   
   >> >but it worries me when I see people trying to turn back the   
   >> >clock and return to interpretations that were just as confusing   
   >> >hundreds of years ago as they are today.   
   >   
   >> I'd be interested in knowing more specifically what you mean by that.   
   >   
   >Well, for example, there are passages in the Old Testament   
   >that lay out rules for things like what was to be considered   
   >humane treatment of slaves.  Slavery existed back then, and   
   >arguably it might have been a Good Thing to have rules to try   
   >to limit the suffering.  Our answer today: no slavery allowed,   
   >ergo no need for rules about it.   
   >   
   >A lot of confusion about unfairness in life is eliminated when   
   >we just resolve as a group to stop accepting the roots of   
   >unfairness.  In many cases religious leaders have been in   
   >the forefront of that effort, but sometimes it takes a while   
   >for the verdict of history to shake down.  Abolition of slavery   
   >started primarily as a religious movement, but there were a   
   >lot too many preachers in the south during the Civil War who   
   >used those Old Testament passages about slavery as an   
   >excuse to say that it was ok because it was clearly in the   
   >Bible.   
      
      
   Indeed, as extreme as an example like that tends to seem in today's   
   world, the principle can be much the same - as one gay Christian I saw   
   in a documentary put it, "the times are changing, you got to change   
   with them".  He presumably chose his congregation deliberately, in   
   part, for their open-mindedness, but in a broader context, such trends   
   help society in general to more directly face, and ultimately resolve,   
   controversial cultural differences.   
      
   Not to mention, of course, that you do allude to one of my main tenets   
   of my non-practicing belief in the Bible.  While I don't accept it in   
   its entirety as "inspired word of God", or whatever, that actually   
   helps solidify its value to me - it doesn't need to be that, to show   
   its purpose in world history since the time of Jesus.  Sure, it was   
   exploited to help justify slavery in the last millennium, but it   
   wasn't the *cause* of it, and I can only imagine that every violent,   
   discriminatory, tragic phenomenon would have still happened, and been   
   even worse, without the influence of Christianity.   
      
   --   
   Joel Crump   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)