A woman in Indianapolis beat her seven year old son with a
coat hanger, severely enough to leave thirty-six dark purple bruises striped
across his back and a hook-shaped bruise on his cheek. The abuse happened in
February 2016. Her kids are safe now. (Story here.)
Legal documents filed in her defense quote Scripture to justify
her actions.
Yes, please go back and read that again …
Her lawyer is arguing that something called the “Religious
Freedom Restoration Act” gives this child abuser permission to abuse children. The
child abuser said, “I was worried for my son's salvation with God after he
dies,” and “I decided to punish my son to prevent him from hurting my daughter
and to help him learn how to behave as God would want him to.” Even leaving
aside the completely illogical and ignorant statement that hurting a child will
teach them not to hurt another child, the horribly twisted theology ought to
appall and anger every person of faith everywhere in the world.
And then, the second layer of the defense plan is to argue
that cultural differences caused her to misunderstand the law, since harsh
physical abuse is common in the woman’s culture of origin. Which is bullshit.
Child abuse is child abuse in Myanmar as well as Indiana. C.S. Lewis wrote, “The
moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are,
in fact, measuring them both by a standard,” and that standard is “something
above and beyond the ordinary facts of men’s behavior, and yet quite definitely
real.”
And so, I will confess that a whole lot of emotion came to
the surface for me when I read this story this morning. I’ve been working
through a lot of that emotion in the back of my head all day as I’ve been
working on other stuff. As both a foster dad and also a pastor, this story has
kind of captured my attention.
Look, I know that interpreting Scripture to justify horrible
things isn’t anything new. It is as old as Scripture itself, actually. As long
as the Bible has been around, people have misused it to wage war, keep slaves,
oppress women, commit genocide, discriminate against entire categories of
people, and on and on.
So if it’s all the same to you, I’d really, really like us
to stop doing that. In fact, here’s a list of simple steps that I think we ought to
take, that will hopefully help us stop abusing the Bible.
1) If it is hurts another person, don’t do it, even if you
believe the Bible says it’s okay.
2) Admit that you do not know everything there is to know about the Bible, much less about God.
3) Stop saying “The Bible says…” and start saying “I
understand the Bible to say…”
4) Interpret difficult, ambiguous, or obscure passages in
the light of the Bible’s central themes, like love, grace, justice, and peace.
5) And finally, if it hurts another person, even if you
believe the Bible says it’s okay, don’t do it.
Just don’t.
The divinely inspired authors of the Holy Book of the church,
the scribes who copied their words, the interpreters who took it from Hebrew
and Greek and brought it to the world, the editors who so diligently pulled
everything together – I’m pretty sure they weren’t doing what they did so that
Indiana mom could do what she did.
And by the way, nor so that invading armies could eradicate native
populations. Nor so that governments could deny equal rights for people of
color. Nor so that husbands could consider wives to be personal property.
And while we're at it, nor so that bakers of cakes could
discriminate against gay people. Nor so that a town in Midwestern America could
call their event a Christmas parade. Nor so an employer could refuse to pay for
healthcare for women employees. And so on.
Let's call it what it is. It is Bible abuse masquerading as religious freedom. It is incompatible with the Gospel. It's wrong, and it needs to stop.
So can we just stop please? It’s hurting people. And so we
need to stop.
8 comments:
Good stuff Andy.
Seems like another example of a person hiding behind the bible instead of standing on it.
Nice job Andy. I wish the "Pastor" who yells at people in the town square would read this. I am tired of having Bible verses slammed at me for supporting LGBT, a woman's right to choose, democrats, on and on and on. Thank you for this article.
Re: Child abuse. Agree. Have no use at all for it. Much less some seeking to excuse child abuse by misuse of scripture. The mother's cultural background is not western... not likely tough love nor the kinder gentler methodology of the preferred by others. But, she isn't in the old country any more. She's in the USA. It is incumbent upon her to learn and abide by the law of this land, not the culture or custom of the old country.
As to that bit about "And while we're at it, nor so that bakers of cakes could discriminate against gay people. Nor so that a town in Midwestern America could call their event a Christmas parade. Nor so an employer could refuse to pay for healthcare for women employees. And so on." Got it. The standard of acceptable or unacceptable is that of good little left-wing liberal democrats. Got it.
And the “promoting of disobedience” while bearing the title of a reverend minister of God, is any less damaging than what this woman “as a mother”, did to her own son??? You have not a clue!
Why did you include the words "good little" in this otherwise insightful and helpful comment?
Why did you include the words "good little" in this otherwise insightful and helpful comment?
When I was a child my mother told me that the bible gave her permission to kill me if I disobeyed. I was raised in the church, with all the abusive guilt trips, and so-called correct "guidance" from the word of god as to how I must behave. Frankly, I'm over it, and have no need to enter relationships with those who want to proselytize, or hold me out of a circle of love using god's word. Bible abuse? Defending the bible? Is that like other religions defending their sacred scriptures? Uhn uh.
When I was a child my mother told me that the bible gave her permission to kill me if I disobeyed. I was raised in the church, with all the abusive guilt trips, and so-called correct "guidance" from the word of god as to how I must behave. Frankly, I'm over it, and have no need to enter relationships with those who want to proselytize, or hold me out of a circle of love using god's word. Bible abuse? Defending the bible? Is that like other religions defending their sacred scriptures? Uhn uh.
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