Excuse the short diary, but this op-ed by Nicholas Kristof really lit up my irony sensors: Religion and Sex
In the op-ed Mr Kristof uses some questions from “Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire.” The author is Jennifer Wright Knust who is a Bible scholar at Boston University and an ordained American Baptist pastor.
The one that got me is this:
7. The people of Sodom were condemned principally for:
a. Homosexuality.
b. Blasphemy.
c. Lack of compassion for the poor and needy.
And the answer is?
Surpise, it's not homosexuality. From the article:
7. C. “Sodomy” as a term for gay male sex began to be commonly used only in the 11th century and would have surprised early religious commentators. They attributed Sodom’s problems with God to many different causes, including idolatry, threats toward strangers and general lack of compassion for the downtrodden. Ezekiel 16:49 suggests that Sodomites “had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”
Hmm. “Did not aid the poor and needy.” Who knew that that’s what the Bible condemns as sodomy? At a time of budget cuts that devastate the poor, isn’t that precisely the kind of disgusting immorality that we should all join together in the spirit of the Bible to repudiate?
I can't think of anything to add, except that if you have a friend who excoriates "Sodomites," perhaps this might remind him or her of what the Bibles priorities are concerning wealth, ease, and the need for compassion.