
The Bible has been able to spoil so much of human history because it is just is so fucking vague. It's a book-length fortune cookie or horoscope, wherein people can glean anything they want from the text. Want to sleep with your little cousin? Surely there's something in there that'd give you the thumbs up. Feel like committing a little murder? Just check out whatever section the latest abortionist assassin was dwelling over before pulling the trigger. You can debate anything you want—and win!
A great example of this is the pro-choice movement. You'd think because of where it fits in today's religious environment that super religious folks would have never supported a woman's right to chose. But in fact, the Christian opposition to abortion hasn't been the norm that long. In a post over at CNN, Jonthan Dudley researches the Christian position on abortion throughout the past century and finds that the Bible was, as late as 1971, used as proof that God actually believes there's a difference between a fetus and the life of the mother. (Exodus 21:22-24 was the specific snippet they pointed to.) But it wasn't until the late 70s/early 80s when Jerry Falwell started believing it was his job to protect fetuses that the opinion shifted across the Christian landscape. And now, officially, abortion is bad because “The Bible says so.”
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- Mark Basseley Youssef, the filmmaker responsible for The Innocence of Muslims— the viral video that sort-of-but-not-really started anti-American riots throughout the Middle East—has been sentenced to one year in prison after violating his parole by using the internet.- A blogger over at the Christian Men's Defense Network believes Romney lost the election because of a demographic that could not be polled and targeted: the slut vote.- Pat Robertson is shocked that women watch porn.- A group protesting the occupation of Tibet by China have decided to [forgo the horrifying and not very effective practice of self-immolation](http://youtu.be/NxxEo6lEC_U ). Instead, they made a "Gangnam Style" parody video.- Turns out, 68 percent of Republicans believe that it is possible for “people to be possessed by demons.” Maybe scarier: 49 percent of Democrats also believe in such nonsense.And Our Person(s) of the Week: Voters in Maine, Maryland, Washington, and Minnesota, who saw past the bullshit religious-based nonsense and blocked attempts to end same-sex marriage in their states. That's 4-0 in the war between tolerance and bigotry last Tuesday. As you can tell by this interactive map, while we're not quite there yet as a whole, it certainly is getting better.Previously - The Case for Voting
