What we need to do about guns

It is time to have a national conversation about gun control.  Here's what we should do.

It's not just about the mandate

Barack Obama has won re-election, and right on cue the right wing is attempting to tamp down thoughts that Obama has won a mandate, has political capital, and can pursue the agenda that he campaigned (and won) on.  But it's not just about the impressive scope of Obama's win, it's about the ideas behind the policies that Obama will pursue.

Why isn't Romney's Mormonism an issue?

As anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows, I am not religious.  All religious beliefs seem whack-a-doo to me.  However, I recognize that Mormonism is different from Christianity, and I wonder why Christians aren't obviously bothered by Romney's beliefs, or at least talking about them more.

Leviticus 16

In which Aaron has to kill some animals and say he's really, really sorry for the horrible crime that his sons committed that caused God to kill them.  (They burned the wrong incense while making an offering to God, so God killed them.)

Obama supports marriage equality!

Today is an historic day.  Finally our President has said what many of us have known for a long time: gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights as everyone else.

This is what America is all about.  Treating people equally, being tolerant of others, embracing diversity, fairness.  And part of being an American is accepting that sometimes, people do things you don't agree with.  But as long as it doesn't hurt you, doesn't cost you anything, doesn't impose upon others and doesn't take anyone else's rights away, then we have to be mature enough to accept things we don't necessarily like or agree with sometimes.

So if you're opposed to gay marriage, I have a question for you: what does it matter to you?  I mean that seriously and sincerely.  If a gay couple gets married, what harm or impact does that have on you (and if you're married, on your marriage)?  There are six states in the US today where gay marriage is legal: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire.  Also, the District of Columbia.  Are heterosexual marriages any less meaningful in these states?  Is there really any harm being done?  What possible reason could you have for being opposed to this for loving, committed gay couples?  If you don't like the idea of gay marriage, then don't have one.  Really.  But don't deny that right to others just because you think it's icky.

Leviticus 15

In which we learn how many of what kind of animals to kill if you're bleeding.

Long absence

Wow, time flies.  It was not my intention to stop posting to this blog.  I went from being unemployed with tons of free time on my hands, to having a job that occupies most of my daily productive hours (plus a commute).  I'm still interested in blogging in general, and committed to the primary topic at hand (blogging the bible).  But I may post less frequently than I used to because of having less free time.  Hopefully in the future it won't take me 4 months between each post.

Another reason I stopped was that I was so disgusted by what I read in Leviticus 14.  I just went back to re-read what I had last posted, and it's really unconscionable.  I guess it's a good thing that nobody believes that this is an appropriate treatment for someone with leprosy (or that houses can be afflicted with leprosy), but it's really frightening that at any point at history people may have believed this stuff.  And that anyone who knows what's in this book would continue to defend it.

And I've just finished a post for Leviticus 15, which I'll post in a few minutes.  It doesn't get any better.  The unnecessary killing of animals, the disgusting blood rituals, the oppression of women, the inconsistencies and contradictions in the text itself, the really really bad writing: all of these continue in full force in this next chapter.

Onward.