Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Secularists and the Not Godless World
- PART ONE THE COMPOSITION OF THE HEBREW BIBLE
- PART TWO THE INTERPRETERS OF THE HEBREW BIBLE
- PART THREE POLITICS AND SCRIPTURE
- 6 On Jewish Intermarriage: The Bible Is Open to Interpretation
- 7 Same-Sex Eroticism and Jerry Falwell
- 8 The Secular Qur'ān?
- Conclusion: Beyond Church and State: New Directions for Secularism
- Notes
- Index of Biblical Citations
- Index of Qur'ānic Citations
- Index of Rabbinic, Early Jewish, and Patristic Citations
- Index
7 - Same-Sex Eroticism and Jerry Falwell
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Secularists and the Not Godless World
- PART ONE THE COMPOSITION OF THE HEBREW BIBLE
- PART TWO THE INTERPRETERS OF THE HEBREW BIBLE
- PART THREE POLITICS AND SCRIPTURE
- 6 On Jewish Intermarriage: The Bible Is Open to Interpretation
- 7 Same-Sex Eroticism and Jerry Falwell
- 8 The Secular Qur'ān?
- Conclusion: Beyond Church and State: New Directions for Secularism
- Notes
- Index of Biblical Citations
- Index of Qur'ānic Citations
- Index of Rabbinic, Early Jewish, and Patristic Citations
- Index
Summary
The fact is that Paul treats all homosexual activity as prima facie evidence of humanity's tragic confusion and alienation from God the Creator…. Though only a few biblical texts speak of homoerotic activity, all of them express unqualified disapproval.
Richard Hays, “Awaiting the Redemption of Our Bodies: The Witness of Scripture Concerning Homosexuality”The New Testament takes no demonstrable position on homosexuality…. The source of antigay feelings among Christians must be sought elsewhere.
John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth CenturyIntolerance, lust for political power masquerading as love of God, thump-a-Bible self-righteousness — these are the qualities that American secularists ascribe to Christian fundamentalists. Perhaps no single fundamentalist conforms to their stereotype as much as the Reverend Jerry Falwell. His stewardship of the Moral Majority, his prominent role in the rise of the religious Right, as well as his periodic assaults on the liberal media, have made him the object of secular fear and loathing. Then there is his enduring and often strange obsession with gay people. Falwell has accused the founder of the PTL television ministry, Jim Bakker, of being a homosexual. He has accused the Teletubby Tinky Winky of being a homosexual role model. He has blamed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on rampant American homosexuality (among other national vices). But Falwell is by no means the most extreme or hateful of antigay Christian conservatives.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Secular BibleWhy Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously, pp. 101 - 115Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005