Anyway, re the stabby religious people, it just goes to show how some religious people have gotten everything backwards. Homosexuality which is defined the same way as eating seafood in the Bible is worse then attempted murder! Why aren't the crazy ones (an extreme minority)running into Red Lobster and stabbing people?

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Also, the word used in the Torah or "Old Testament" to describe homosexual acts, translated as "abomination," is unique: no other sin is described using that word. The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah also informs the perception of homosexual acts qua sins.

If a person reads the catalog of sins in the Old Testament without context, it’s tempting to compare any sin with any other: shellfish and homosexual acts, for example. Indeed, this is a popular argumentative move with progressive Christians such as American Episcopalians who want to argue in favor of gay marriage and the ordination of openly gay priests.

But, while I applaud socially progressive action, it is disingenuous to read any ancient text that way, let alone religious texts that have functioned in many different contexts and traditions. In the Jewish tradition, those texts were never meant to be self-standing: there was always an oral tradition given from God, on par with the written texts and necessary for understanding them. For example, according to the oral tradition (actually written down in parts beginning thousands of years ago), the Noachide moral code (covenant of Noah) was meant to apply to Jews and non-Jews alike, and traditionally includes the strictures of sexual sins.

I find this depressing. I think I should focus less on offering accurate information and more on making funny zingers.

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