Adam came first, but men always do

Sexual innuendo implied.


I grew up Lutheran and had the Bible pounded into my head for a majority of my childhood. In high school, I wavered here and there about my beliefs, but I always came back to them. However, in college, I became more interested in politics, and since the November 2004 Presidential election was near the beginning of my freshman year in college, religion was a hot topic. The November 2004 election is actually what influenced me to no longer consider myself a Christian. Why, you ask? Well, there's this concept of separation of church and State that our country does not abide by, and George W. Bush abused that to the fullest.

Don't get me wrong... I do not immediately judge or dislike someone based on their beliefs. However, I do dislike when people misquote the Bible and manipulate the text to use to their advantage. People used to use the Bible as an excuse for slavery. The Bible is constantly used as reference against gay marriage today, and the Bible has always been extremely oppressive to women. Let's not forget all of the violence over religion, coined "crusades."

Keep in mind... the Bible was written by, edited by, and mistranslated by MEN, and typically men in power. Not to mention it was written a couple thousand years ago, and times have changed. King David had a man killed because that man's wife was David's mistress. Though he sinned, I don't think anyone has their doubts about whether he was forgiven and went to heaven. Yet consensual sodomy is still illegal in many places today, and many people think being gay means going to hell. People don't CHOOSE to be gay, and you mean to tell me they are punishable by God for who they are?

I am not really religious anymore... I consider myself Unitarian Universalist, leaning towards Buddhism, but I can't deny I still believe in Jesus. I just don't believe a majority of the Bible. Every religion sounds like a book a fairy tales to me, and most have similar morals to their story. I actually think Jesus was liberal, and he was also a radical, if you really consider his teachings and actions. Anything that Jesus might have frowned upon according to the 2,000 year old Bible might hold a different opinion for Jesus today.

I have always had a couple huge issues with even the beginning of the Bible. The punishment for Original Sin was for all women to experience horrible pain during childbirth and for men to work for a living. Now women do both, and men still don't pop out babies. It is quite upsetting to me. Also, if Noah and his family and his sons' wives were the only survivors of the great flood, how do you explain all the different races in the world? Anytime I ask that, people make up their own logic that has no backup from the Bible.