Expert: Austin Cline - 9/3/2005

Question
Hi,

Whenever I engage in a debate with a devout Catholic or Christian fundamentalist on topics like homosexuality, abortion, women's rights etc they always use the Bible to defend their possition. That leaves me stumped for one of two reasons. First of all, because I am a liberal agnostic(who hasn't studied the Bible very closely) and secondly(and perhaps most significantly) because it appears that the Bible DOES support their view that homosexuality is sinful, women are inferior etc. Of course I don't believe that.

So, my question is how would you respond when you are debating a particular topic(homosexuality for example) and the Christian responds with a biblical quote that appears to support their argument? What do atheists make of the Bible? Do they simply believe it is a history book, or a complete work of fiction? Thanks for your time.

Answer
1. In many ways, the Bible does support bigotry. That's only a reason to be a bigot, though, if one can't think for themselves. Take, for example, the fact that slavery and racial discrimination were once defended with the Bible - is that a reason to be a slave holder?  People have also used the Bible to support anti-Semitism. Should you be an anti-Semite now?

2. There are places on the net that offer different interpretations of the relevant passages. Just because a passage can be interpreted in a way that is bigoted, doesn't mean that it has to be.

Atheists usually regard the Bible as a combination of myth, history, literature, poetry, etc. Some things it describes are accurate (or at least somewhat accurate). Other things aren't. It's not an all-or-nothing thing.

You can register in my site's forum to ask questions about alternative interpretations of specific passages:

http://atheism.about.com/mpboards.htm

There are lots of knowledgeable people there.

I have reviewed a number of books dealing with race and religion, a couple of which might prove useful on the issue of interpreting the Bible:

http://atheism.about.com/od/booksracereligion/