"...I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me..." [Deuteronomy 5:8-10]

Friday, July 16, 2004

Making marriage religious
Some surfing around led me to a fabulous piece in the Boston Pheonix from 2003 by Mary-Ann Greanier on Biblical attitudes to marriage. She points out the the Bible condones:

  • Polygamy (II Sam. 3:2-5; Gen. 29:17-28)
  • Stoning to death non-virgin brides (Deut. 22:13-21)
  • Keeping concubines (I Kings 11:3; II Sam. 5:13; II Chron. 11:21)
  • Forbidding marriages between believers & non-believers (Gen. 24:3; Neh. 10:30)
  • Forbidding divorce (Deut. 22:19; Mark 10:9-12)
  • Forcing childless widows to marry their brother-in-laws (Deut. 25:5-10; Gen. 38:6-10)
  • Incest, if there are no suitable men to marry (Gen. 19:31-36)
Her piece has been re-written as a nice anonymous "amendment" which Bush might like to make to the US Constitution...


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