Letters to the Editor

Letter: Basing 'absolute' morality on the Bible is problematic

Re: Paul Wallis letter "What Being God Really Means" (Sept. 10). How anyone can pick their "one, true God" is beyond me, with so many to choose from! But let's say that you're Christian, and the Bible has some verses that disapprove of homosexuality. But the Bible also says that God is pro-slavery, endorses violence against women (rape, honor killings, death by stoning), and that cursing children should be killed. The eating of shrimp and pork chops, haircuts, shaving, tattoos, cotton/polyester T-shirts, women in pantsuits, mixed crops, and the picking up of sticks on the Sabbath are all also highly frowned upon.

The truth is, nearly all present-day Christians have indeed ceded moral authority to shifting perceptions of justice. Basing "absolute" morality on a book that was begun 3,500 years ago, which has over 40 authors spanning a 1,600-year period of time, and has been edited and translated through the ages (no two Bibles were identical until the invention of the printing press in the 1500s), would seem illogical, if not downright foolish.

— Anne Terry

Anchorage

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