Is the Bible too liberal?
Conservapedia's attempt to weed out "liberal bias" from modern Bible translations
The Bible
(Volker Moehrke/Corbis)
"And you thought liberal bias was limited to the evil mainstream media," said Amy Sullivan in Time. The guys at Conservapedia (aka, "the trustworthy encyclopedia") have launched a project to retranslate the Bible, because, they say, "liberal bias has become the single biggest distortion in modern Bible translations." They want to "replace liberal words like 'labor'" with terms conservatives like better, and "explain the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning." This takes crazy to a whole new level.
Okay, so "an explicitly 'conservative' interpretation" of the Bible isn't such a great idea, said Ken Shepherd in Newsbusters.org. But it's interesting that Time's Sullivan and others are lambasting Conservapedia's Conservative Bible Project after all the "reverent treatment" the media gave to the "so-called Green Bible," an edition that claimed that "eco-neglect" violates Jesus' teachings by hurting the poor. How about treating both projects with equal doses of "scorn and thoughtful criticism"?
Conservapedia's mission is in a class by itself, said Rod Dreher in BeliefNet. "The insane hubris of this really staggers the mind." As Catholic blogger Mark Shea says, "some of this has a grain of sense to it, as ideological madness always does. For instance, the dumb attempts to feminize Scripture are pernicious and need to stop." But it's just laughable to think there are people out there trying to "make sure the Lord doesn't go all wobbly on us."
One of the "most well-worn clichés in modern politics" is that conservatives are a bunch of "scary Christianists," said Paul Zummo in Southern Appeal (via First Things). But it's the Left that is trying to "recruit Jesus Christ to their cause," hoping to sell their positions on economic issues with their portrayal of "Jesus Christ, socialist superstar." But it's all a smokescreen, because they know they've run afoul of church teachings on matters such as abortion, euthanasia, and gay marriage.
It's hard to believe society has sunk this low, said Eduardo Penalver in Commonweal. Let's hope the Conservative Bible Project turns out to be a hoax—it's certainly funny, whether it's "satire or simply authentic insanity." But "it’s a sad commentary on the state of our political discourse that it’s so hard to tell the two apart these days."
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30 Comments
Posted by BreezeTilter, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 11:52 am So what. The bible has been translated thousands of times to suit rulers' whims and desires for subjugating their willing/unwilling constituents what's the harm in one more?
Posted by jennifer, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 1:02 pm xtc put it best in their song dear god: did you make mankind, after we made you? i think the most telling statement in this article is paul zummo accusing the left of recruiting jesus to their cause. are you kidding me?! the problem with this crap is that it is so divisive. shouldn't we be working TOGETHER in jesus' name? not us vs. them? they ARE a bunch of scary christianists giving christianity a bad name and i want nothing to do with their god. enjoy your rude awakening, nutters!
Posted by dj spellchecka, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 2:16 pm zummo must have a super secret bible...i've never read jesus saying anything about abortion, euthanasia, or gay marriage
Posted by Sarah, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 2:21 pm According to Christianity gay marriage is allowed. The rule against it is in the old testament kosher laws which we don't follow anymore and Jesus erased those rules with his new covenant.
Posted by Holly Y., Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 2:56 pm I'm a follower of Christ, and find this completely insane and scary. I thought the Word was breathed by God, not people breathing their stank breath and crazy ideas into the Word of God. I don't know why we think being Liberal is such a you're going to Hell idea. I don't think many of these conservatives ideas are any better, but this is the topper and truly proves there is a HUGE christian cult that is out there trying to run the show. FOLKS! It's ok to think for yourself and follow the Word of God, NOT the word of these crazy men!
Posted by Christopher, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 3:32 pm dj spellchecka, you are correct that Jesus never said anything about those things. In fact, the brand of Christianity that we know today, especially that brand practiced by Biblefundamentalists, has very little to do with what Jesus actually taught or with how Jesus lived. In fact, the split with Jesus began with the Missionary Paul and the Pauline Christian movement that he started. The origional Jesus movement withered away after The Paulines took over the religion.
Posted by Um, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 4:03 pm The mainstream media sees fit to front page some fringe rightwing blog with no followers but ignores millions marching in Washington? Interesting.
Posted by Mike , Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 4:13 pm Conservative Christians chose CONSERVATIVE over CHRISTIAN a long time ago. This is just the most telling evidence of that fact. It would be funny to watch them twist and contort to make Jesus' liberal teachings of compassion into their own hateful teachings of intolerance if there were not so many sheep that will follow these false prophets. Doublespeak has arrived. Love is hate. Forgiveness is condemnation. Feed the hungry is get a job.
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