To the Editor:
This is written in response to the Dec. 25 Letter to the Editor (and the Jan. 1 correction to it) suggesting that gay marriage is wrong because the Bible says so. (The Bible clearly says,” page 4)
In America’s history, the Bible has been used to argue against the abolition of slavery, against women’s right to vote, against equal rights for blacks, and now against the gays’ right to marry. Fortunately, tolerance and common sense have always served us better.
In suggesting we look to the Bible to judge right from wrong in our modern culture, the writer makes a very common mistake in assuming the Bible is always a sensible arbiter of morality. In fact, the Bible is crammed full of statements and prescriptions that hardly any of us today would regard as moral.
For example, according to the Bible, death is the recommended (or demanded) punishment for the following “transgressions;” disobedience of a son (Deuteronomy 21), working on the Sabbath (Exodus), blasphemy (Leviticus), homosexuality (Leviticus), adultery (Leviticus), and witchcraft (Exodus).
In short, because something is in the Bible does not mean it makes sense for our culture in our time. The Scriptures were written thousands of years ago by primitive desert tribesmen who lived in a brutal world and it shows. We humans have grown up a lot over the past 2000 years. We have learned a great deal about how the world really works (and that there are no witches) and we have made great strides in our laws and morality.
If we have learned anything from history after all this time, it should be that all law-abiding people deserve equal rights and equal opportunity regardless of age, gender, race, nationality, religion, or sexual preference.
Galen Rose
Damariscotta
