Tag: Bible

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News News Blog

Bible Closer to Becoming State Book

The Christian Bible took one step closer to becoming the official state book of Tennessee Tuesday.

The House Naming, Designating, and Private Acts Committee may not sound exciting. But it has been a main battlefield of the Tennessee culture wars this legislative session, primarily with debates on what to do with the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust in the State Capitol building.

Rep. Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station) brought his Bible bill back to the legislature this year after it was defeated last year in a full House floor vote.

This time, though, Sexton added language to the bill to show it wasn’t just a Christian thing. The new bill says the Bible has had historical and economic impacts on the state and, therefore, should be its state book. He even said the folks at Liberty University have agreed to defend the move if it was contested in court.

Just before the dog pile of Christian Representatives smothered Sexton and his bill with righteous tones of their love of the book, one committee member disagreed with the idea.

“I have multiple churches in my district and multiple synagogues and mosques in my district,” said Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville). “If the state codified and recognizes the Bible as the state book, what does that say to [those who aren’t Christians] about their religion? How should they interpret that?”

Sexton said “it would not say anything to them, anymore than having Tennessee designated as the Volunteer State.”

Clemmons said the legislation is “exclusive in nature” and, in his opinion as an attorney, is unconstitutional as a violation of the establishment clause.

To that, Sexton said that “every time we make a vote here and almost everything we do, excludes someone and includes someone. Exclusions and inclusions…that goes on all the time. [This bill] does not exclude anyone. …. It doesn’t require anyone to go to church or buy a Bible or read it. It just recognizes it for historical purposes.”

One Representative in the room likened the move to naming the state flower or bird. Another read passages from the Declaration of Independence, which, he said, showed that the United States was established as a Christian nation. Another said if legislators “see fit“ to make the Bible the state book, then they’ll do what “we see fit.”

The bill was passed with only two audible “nays.” No roll call vote was taken. It moved on to another committee to be added to the House calendar for a floor vote.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1365

Verbatim I

Most of the news coming out of Tennessee last week revolved around whether or not the legislature would pass a bill making the Bible, a text regarded by Christians as the living word of God almighty, Tennessee’s official state book. When asked to comment on what it means to elevate the Bible to the same status as raccoons, which are Tennessee’s official wild animal, and “Rocky Top,” one of many Tennessee state songs, Rep. Micah Van Huss had this insane thing to say: “The dog and the cat are state symbols and nobody in Tennessee is required to purchase a dog or a cat.” The dog and cat aren’t Tennessee symbols, unfortunately. All these shenanigans would be a lot cuter if they were.

Verbatim II

State Senate Republican leader Mark Norris had this to say when the Senate voted 22-9 to send the Bible bill back to committee: “All I know is that I hear Satan snickering. He loves this kind of mischief. You just dumb the good book down far enough to make it whatever it takes to make it a state symbol, and you’re on your way to where he wants you.” In spite of all that kooky Vincent Price stuff about Satan laughing, Norris’ comment was widely praised for its relative sanity.

Booty Church

The most incredible thing about this story is that it didn’t happen in Memphis first. A development group that was blocked from building a sex club adjacent to the Goodpasture Christian School in Madison, Tennessee, is moving forward again after rebranding the effort as a church renovation. According to reports, the ownership group will have to prove that the building is an actual house of worship prior to opening.

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (April 16, 2015)

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Tennessee Senate, House Committees Approve Bill to Make Bible Official State Book” …

I hope this is but the first step. Next we should have the State Bible Verse, the State Hymn, the State Church, the State Tongue in Which to Speak, and, finally, the State Serpent for Handling.

Jeff

I clicked on this headline fully expecting to see “Parody” tucked somewhere discreetly on the page. Seriously, is this real life?

NavyBlue

No, it’s not parody. Parody died in this Tennessee Legislature shortly after the right-wing clown car drove into Nashville. This is about pandering to the large segment of this state who couldn’t care less about such arcane concepts as, say, the First Amendment. They think the “establishment” clause is a liberal plot — if they’ve ever heard of it in the first place.

Kilgore Trout

I’m so glad that I live in a state with amazing education, no poverty, no unemployment, infrastructure in excellent condition, and a fully insured populace. It makes me feel better about paying our legislators to pass laws that do absolutely nothing.

csh

Bible today, Koran tomorrow. Thanks, rubes.

Crackoamerican

About Chris Davis’ cover story, “Godless in Memphis” …

Of all the headlines that were out there, all you could come up with was the “catchy” headline: “Godless in Memphis”?

With all the negative perceptions people from around the country might have of our city, here’s yet another one to add to their list: Memphis is Godless. Nice job keeping the Memphis reputation down.

What’s next on your headline list? “Hail to ISIS”?

Phil Grey

I want to publically thank the American Atheists for holding their national convention in Memphis. After recently reading with disgust Duck Dynasty‘s Phil Robertson fantasize about butchering an atheist family, I was a bit leery about the consequences for the many atheists left behind in Memphis. Would the convention manifest hostility and hatred toward atheists? 

The convention, however, went over without generating much controversy. And there were even a few positive articles about atheists, including the cover story, “Godless in Memphis,” in the Memphis Flyer. Thank you!

Jason Grosser

About the Flyer’s editorial “No to Vouchers” …

If vouchers are fair and good for Christian schools, why would atheist and/or Islamic schools not get vouchers paid for by public money?

Who will complain loudest when their tax dollars are vouchered away to the First Islamic High School? Or to the Midtown Free Thinkers Institute?

Claude Barnhart

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter from the Editor, “NRA Foreplay in Nashville …

Public parks are not private property. If I have the right to carry a gun on the sidewalk, obviously I have the right to carry it in a park.

Jason

Thank you, Jason! It’s about time we did away with the unconstitutional tyranny of the Tennessee driving laws. If I want to do donuts in a playground in my SL550, then it is my right!

Ern

About Toby Sells’ post, “Sammons Approved as CAO” …

Wharton needed Sammons’ capabilities, which apparently far exceeded Little’s, and yet Little is so important to the administration that he will be working on what many consider to be the most challenging undertakings in the city. So what’s the real deal here?

Smitty1961

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Book Features Books

Holy Moses!

If you’re a student of the Old Testament, maybe you’ve asked yourself the following: Does the Bible command bikini waxing? Was Onan a jerk? Was Joseph a cross-dresser? Were Samson and Delilah into S&M? And was Moses suicidal?

The questions may at first sound preposterous — or worse, sacrilegious — but you’re in good company when it comes to questioning the precise meanings behind the stories told in the Good Book. Biblical scholars have posed the questions too. See The Uncensored Bible (HarperOne/HarperCollins) by John Kaltner, Steven McKenzie, and Joel Kilpatrick. And thank God for Ziony Zevit.

Ziony Zevit? He’s a respected scholar at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. It was a paper Zevit delivered at a conference of biblical scholars that got Kaltner and McKenzie (of Rhodes College) thinking and got satirist Kilpatrick on board for some extra added humor. If Zevit’s paper, dryly titled “Observations on the Hebrew Narrative of Genesis 2:4-4:1,” could etymologically question Adam’s rib (for “rib,” Zevit argued, read, in ancient Hebrew, “penis bone”), what else was there about traditional biblical interpretation that needed further looking into? A lot, the more you look, according to The Uncensored Bible. So Kaltner, McKenzie, and Kilpatrick took a good look, and readers get an entertaining, instructive eye-opener.

But the authors set themselves some limits — four, to be exact — and in their introduction, they list the criteria for what would and wouldn’t make it into their “Baedeker to gross, risqué, and deliciously disgusting bible scholarship for the common man and woman”:

1) Proposed biblical interpretations must be innovative and “juicy” (translation: the stranger the better); 2) interpretations must be a new take on an old story familiar to most anyone; 3) interpretations must be worth a reader’s serious consideration; and 4) interpretations must be authored by researchers trained in bona-fide biblical scholarship.

Unnumbered but just the same, the proposed interpretations should be clever and off-color enough “to make for interesting bar talk” — on the order of, say, the question of bikini waxing. The Bible: pro or con?

The answer to that vexing question: pro, according to scholar Jerome T. Walsh. How does he know? The Pentateuch tells him so: The shaving of a woman’s pubes (not the cutting off of her hand, as the Hebrew is usually interpreted) is just punishment if her husband gets into a fight with another man, and the wife grabs the testicles of her husband’s assailant.

Hand it too to Kaltner et al. to get a handle on Onan, “the spiller of seed” and inspiration for the name of Dorothy Parker’s pet parrot. Call it “coitus onanterruptus.” (The authors do.) Onan’s sin wasn’t self-abuse. It was selfishness.

Joseph of the “technicolor dreamcoat”: Color him the Bible’s clearest example of transgendering. Theodore W. Jennings Jr., of the Chicago Theological Seminary, does and writes: “Jacob/Israel has produced the queer Joseph, transvested him, and thereby transgendered him as a sign of his own masculine desire. And the progeny of Israel have engaged in the first instance of queer bashing.” Huh? “File Jennings’ ideas,” our co-authors write, “under ‘highly unlikely.'” And try as she might, Lori Rowlett, professor at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, can’t make her case for Delilah as a dominatrix and Samson as a (Rowlett’s term) “butch bottom.”

As for Moses’ suicidal tendencies … I’ll leave it to the writers of The Uncensored Bible to describe the scholarship behind the topic of circumcision. File said topic under “The Case of the Bloody Bridegroom and the Freaky Foreskin.”

Think of The Uncensored Bible as any number of academic undertakings: etymology, textual analysis, archaeology, history, and sociology. Add in some good common sense. But don’t fault the authors for irreverence. Their aim here isn’t to debunk the Good Book or to ridicule generations of biblical translators and scholars. It’s to help readers appreciate the Bible even more: its richness and earthiness, its beauty and bawdiness.

Would that John Kaltner, Steven McKenzie, and Joel Kilpatrick team up next to tackle the New Testament. Or is the question of God made man a matter not of scholarship but of faith?

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Kudos

Kudos to the Flyer and Jackson Baker for his succinct and invaluable guide to the upcoming election (“A Sleeper Election?,” July 31st issue). There are many of us who rely on your publication and Baker for our political “fix.” Thanks for what you do.

Julio Martinez

Memphis

Creatively Designed

Regarding Charles Gillihan’s letter (July 31st issue): Gillihan is trying to distance himself and the intelligent-design movement away from its predecessor “creation science.” The lecture delivered by Barbara Forrest (“Q&A with Barbara Forrest,” July 24th issue) was not to “offer the alternatives.” That was not her job. Her job was to show in court during the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board trial (and later to her lecture audience) that intelligent design evolved from creationism.

She showed convincingly that intelligent design is creationism and thus religious. By doing so, “intelligent-design creationism” was judged unconstitutional and in violation of the First Amendment as a subject to be taught in public school science class.

I suggest Gillihan read the trial transcript at creationismstrojanhorse.com.

Chris Stahl, Director

Memphis Freethought Alliance

Those in the Discovery Institute and the intelligent-design/creationism movement use code phrases such as “logical analysis,” “critical thinking,” and so forth. Another common one is “teach the controversy.” The irony of those code phrases is that the intelligent-design creationists often do exactly the opposite.

Intelligent-design creationists rarely apply critical thinking, logical analysis, or teach the controversy strategies to ideas about creationism or the Bible (specifically the Book of Genesis). Controversy is rampant in the creationism camp: “young-Earth creationists” argue with “old-Earth creationists.” “Gap creationists” contend that God created and then annihilated man and later annihilated all of humanity except two people. By contrast, many biblical scholars believe that the creation story in Genesis is actually the splicing together of more than one Jewish creation story with varying chronologies.

The point is that there is a lot of debate amongst the Christian communities about the creation story. Intelligent-design creationists instead focus on an imaginary controversy among scientists over the theory of evolution. They also conveniently ignore the fact that a significant number of Christians embrace the scientific theory of evolution.

Jason Grosser

Cordova

Gillihan’s assertion that there are non-creationists who believe in intelligent design is absurd. If anyone takes the time to follow the careers of these people, they were all associated with some sort of fundamentalist religious organization before they got into intelligent design.

Bill Runyan

Memphis

Gillihan wrote: “There are many non-creationists who hold to intelligent design.” This is not so. Creationism is intelligent design. Barbara Forrest did an excellent job during the trial of proving conclusively that in all documentation over the last 10 years, the phrase “intelligent design” has been substituted for “creationism.”

Why? Because the Supreme Court ruled that teaching creationism as science is unconstitutional. This is absolutely clearcut. Creationism equals intelligent design equals religious instruction.

Steve Aldred

Whiteville

More Fireworks

Regarding Bruce VanWyngarden’s recent 4th of July fireworks Editor’s Note (July 10th issue) and subsequent letters to the editor: There has been serious congestion and gridlock downtown during and immediately after any large public event in the last 25 years or so. And for the last several years, anytime between the hours of, say, 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays, and some Sundays, the same problem exists, which is why “no cruise” areas were initiated.

Our family chose to view the fireworks from the top of one of the multi-tenant buildings in the central business district. Afterward, we rode down the elevator to our condo and then walked to dinner, just off South Main. Rather than moving to Germantown, I say support downtown Memphis. Buy a condo!

J. Tucker Beck

Memphis

Editor’s Note: In last week’s Politics column, the following names should have been spelled: Phil Trenary, Jim McGehee, and Michael Floyd.

Categories
Opinion Viewpoint

The Preacher in Chief?

As we all know, the president of the United States is elected by and swears to serve all citizens of this nation by protecting and defending the Constitution, not the Bible or any other religious text. America — founded by men who in some instances proclaimed Jesus as their God — was created to assure the freedoms of religion and conscience without regard to an individual’s personal beliefs, creed, or worship practices.

The Republican Party appears to have abandoned any commitment to this tenet of the Constitution and is positioned to nominate a preacher in chief, whose first loyalty will be to the dogmas of Christian fundamentalism.

And they have a constituency. Across the country, sprawling corporate religious “lifestyle centers,” serving more as Christian country clubs than as houses of worship, have produced congregations who foster a blend of ostentatious piety, self-righteous intolerance, and unyielding arrogance. For these churchgoers, voting Republican is de rigueur.

Unprecedented amounts of wealth have been amassed in many of these churches, not in small part as a result of the wealth-redistribution policy of the Republican administrations’ faith-based government programs. The threat of losing this power and money may in fact be looming large in the selection of the party’s nominee and in the desperately pious tone, manner, and attitude of the Republican presidential acolytes.

Not to be outdone, the media, particularly cable television punditry and radio talk-show hosts, are reliably helping to advance the idea of establishing a religious “test” for candidates. Although the most recent Republican debate fielded questions created by viewers of YouTube, those questions were vetted and selected by officials at CNN. Thus, all Republican presidential candidates were asked by Wolf Blitzer if they believed in the inerrancy of the Bible. (Any guesses as to how the pack of them answered?)

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a proud member of God’s Own Party and an ordained Baptist minister, may be the most flagrant offender against the Constitution. Huckabee recently told a group of students at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University that his astonishing rise in the Iowa polls is an “act of God.” He has also received letters of endorsement from Tim LaHaye, author of the “Left Behind” series of novels which extol the Rapture as an imminent end-of-the-world phenomenon.

Huckabee has stated on the record that he does not believe in evolution and lists among the most urgent issues facing the country the perils of abortion and gay marriage, as well as threats to the unlimited rights of gun-owners. His frequent statements of religiosity are delivered with a jocular smile and a sense of humor — designed, apparently, to seem non-threatening to anyone who is not a believer.

And, as if this country hasn’t suffered enough division, enough religious hypocrisy, and enough self-righteous intolerance in the last seven years, now we have former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, an ex-moderate of sorts, hastening to join the ranks of Christian soldiers in the Republican Party and seeking like the rest to impose a religious obligation on political service. His immediate motivation, amplified by concern about rival Huckabee, is to gain the White House at any cost, but the ultimate result of his apostasy from reason is to further erode the wall separating church and state in this country — something most Christian fundamentalists believe is a myth concocted by God-hating secular liberals.

Prompted by Huckabee’s surge, Mormon Romney has ramped up his attempt to sway the fundamentalist crowds and seems determined to try to one-up Preacher Huckabee. He may indeed have trumped Huckabee with this mind-bending assertion: “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. … Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.” Can Romney really not know of the suppression, torture, and murder of heretics and infidels by Christians (and members of virtually every other religion) throughout history?

When candidates such as Romney and Huckabee ratchet up their efforts to destroy the separation of church and state established by this country’s founders, it requires those of us in the electorate to ratchet right back. After all, it is an election that will be held in America next November, not an altar call.

Cheri DelBrocco writes the “Mad As Hell” column for MemphisFlyer.com.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: God is a Republican

God (R-Heaven) is much on the minds of the presidential candidates these days, and particularly on the minds of His colleagues in the Republican party.

God, as has been made abundantly clear in recent years, is a Republican and speaks to his partymates regularly. President George Bush has said he hears from Him quite often. Mitt Romney says without religion, there is no freedom (and God doesn’t mind that he’s a Mormon). Mike Huckabee says his rise in the polls is “God’s will.” Rudy Giuliani says the Bible is “the best book ever written,” and John McCain says he sees the hand of God when he hikes the Grand Canyon, though he thinks evolution might still be possible if you think it is. (Ron Paul now has a blimp and apparently doesn’t feel the need to curry God’s favor.)

Using this logic, we must conclude God is in favor of waterboarding, rendition, declarations of unilateral war, lying to grand juries, accepting bribes, unbalanced budgets, Rush Limbaugh, unchecked pollution, allowing people to pray to Him in school, Fox News, and tax cuts.

God is obviously opposed to evolution, gun laws of any kind, illegal immigration, unions, abortion, gay marriage, taxes, the Hollywood entertainment industry (except for Fox Entertainment shows like Family Guy and K-Ville), doing anything about global warming, and income taxes.

Of course, God also speaks to people other than politicians, including many athletes. He makes it possible for lots of dramatic homeruns to be hit and touchdowns to be scored. (God does not like the Memphis Grizzlies, for some reason. My theory is that Hakim Warrick is a Democrat.) And, oddly enough, God speaks to Willie Herenton, also a Democrat. But many of his supporters are Republicans, so that may explain God’s willingness to chat with the mayor.

There’s no denying Republicans have the edge when it comes to the Almighty. He’s in their corner. He answers their prayers. He’s on their side. Not much we can do about it.

Oh, God tosses the rest of us a bone now and then. I appreciate, for example, that he’s allowing my summer flowers to bloom in December. They look really nice with my Christmas decorations. Thank God.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

MAD AS HELL: Keeping the Faith in God’s Own Party

As we all know, the president of the United States is
elected and swears to serve all citizens of this nation by protecting and
defending the Constitution rather than the Bible or any other religious text.
America, founded by men who in some instances proclaimed Jesus as their God,
was created to assure the freedoms of religion and conscience without regard
to an individual’s personal beliefs, creed, or worship practices.

The Republican Party appears to have abandoned any
commitment to this tenet of the Constitution and is positioned to elect a
preacher- in-chief whose first loyalty will be to the dogmas of Christian
Fundamentalism.

And they have a constituency. Across the country
sprawling corporate religious “lifestyle centers” serving more as Christian
country clubs than as houses of worship have produced congregations who foster
a blend of ostentatious piety, self-righteous intolerance, and unyielding
arrogance. For these parishioners, voting Republican is de rigueur.

Unprecedented amounts of wealth have been amassed in many
of these churches, not in small part as a result of the wealth-redistribution
policy of the Bush and Republican faith-based government programs established
in this century. The threat of losing this power and money may in fact be
looming large in the selection of the party’s nominee and in the desperately
pious tone, manner, and attitude of the Republican presidential acolytes.

Not to be outdone, the media, particularly cable
television punditry and radio talk show hosts, are reliably helping to advance
the idea of establishing a religious test. Although the last Republican
debate fielded questions created by viewers of You Tube, those questions were
vetted and selected by officials at CNN. Thus, all Republican presidential
candidates were asked by Wolf Blitzer if they believed in the inerrancy of the
Bible. (Any guesses as to how the pack of them answered?)

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a proud member of
God’s Own Party and an ordained Baptist minister, may be the most flagrant
offender against the Constitution. Mr. Huckabee recently told a group of
students at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University that his astonishing rise in
the Iowa polls is an act of God. He has also received letters of endorsement
from Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind series which extols the
Rapture as an imminent end-of-the-world phenomenon. Huckabee has stated on the
record that he does not believe in evolution and lists among the most urgent
issues facing the country the perils of abortion and gay marriage, as well as
threats to the unlimited rights of gun-owners. His frequent statements of
religiosity are delivered with a jocular smile and a sense of humor —
designed apparently to seem non-threatening to anyone who is not a believer.

As if this country hasn’t suffered enough division, enough
religious hypocrisy, and enough self-righteous intolerance in the last seven
years, now we have former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, an ex-moderate of
sorts, hastening to join the ranks of Christian soldiers in the Republican Party
and seeking like the rest to impose a religious obligation on political service.
His immediate motivation, amplified by concern about rival Huckabee, is to gain
the White House at any cost, but the ultimate result of his apostasy from reason
is to further decimate the wall of separation between Church and state in this
country–something most Christian fundamentalists disbelieve anyhow as a myth
concocted by them God-hating secular liberals.

Scarified by Huckabee’s surge, Mormon Romney has ramped up
his attempt to sway the fundamentalist crowds and seems determined to try to
one-up Preacher Huckabee. He may indeed have trumped Huckabee with this
mind-bending assertion: “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires
freedom—-Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.” Can Romney
really not know of the suppression, torture, and murder of heretics and infidels
by Christians (and members of virtually every other religion) throughout
history?

When candidates like Romney, Huckabee and others ratchet up
their effort to destroy the wall of separation built by the founders, it
requires somebody to ratchet right back. After all, it is an election that will
be held in America next November, not an altar call.