Friday, July 18, 2008

Gay man sues christian publishers over Bible verses

I saw this article in USA Today. This guy is suing the two big christian publishers for what it says about homosexuality in the bible. I doubt he'll win but I must say it did cause me to stop and want to know more!

Gay man sues publishers over Bible verses

CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A gay man is suing two heavyweight Christian publishers, claiming their versions of the Bible that refer to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and have caused him emotional pain and mental instability.

Read the story from USA Today here.

Read the story from Chicago Pride here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow!! It's amazing what people can sue for these days. But this one made me stop and think. A while ago I went Bible shopping b/c the KJV can be a bit like reading greek. As I read through the many versions, I was constantly frustrated because it seemed that the translators had inserted their own convictions about homosexuality into the text, which would skew the interpretation.

Knowing what the original greek manuscripts had said and how it could be most accurately translated, I was disappointed to not be able to find a Bible with a fair translation. Then it occured to me that condemning folks would hold up the biased versions of the Bible and used them to beat gay people over the head without checking the original texts. In fact, they might willfully ignore the original texts and say the translators were insprired by God so therefore those versions of the Bible would be accurate. (Heard this one!!) Also, how many gay youngsters are going to read those versions and spiral into self-hatred not knowing that they are unfair translations?

It would be good to find an easy-to-read, fair and honest version of the Bible out there somewhere. Also, regardless of the convictions of the translators, they need to refrain from inserting their own personal biases into the picture where human rights and the proper treatment of people would be concerned. They should stick to the simplest, easiest to understand translation. It's understandable that they may have to rearrange words sometimes for better clarity, but they should be careful using any extremely modern wording where the meaning of the original greek, or hebrew even, word used is unknown.

I dunno. I've been accused by my fundamentalist friends of scripture-twisting. But then again, I haven't gone in and wilfully changed the wording of the Bible to suit my opinions, then stuck it to print and distributed it all over the globe. Bible translators and publishers need to be responsible when copying God's word. Just personal opinion. Maybe this guy won't win, but he does have a point.

ms26

titration said...

I know it's a crazy thing. Because really what kind of lawsuit is this. And then on the other hand what other way would people be stopped from translating the bible in ways that are in correct. I could see a lawsuit going the other way as well.

This is why I get frustrated by people who say there is no such thing as lenses. eg. people who say I just read what's there in black and white but who don't realize their context impacts how they read it.

titration said...

p.s. thanks for the thoughtful comment. :)