The Bible has been used to both justify and condemn atrocious behavior throughout history more than any other text. Genocide, slavery, feminine oppression — take your pick from the very long list. But what does this book have to do with our 21st century post-enlightened secular – yeah right – society? Many still credit the Bible as the moral foundation of our little Western world. And while it is often read, it is rarely studied critically. This breeds a separation between Sunday school readers and academics. What’s more, those who attempt to extract a historical or critical view of the text are usually at odds with those who ‘know the Truth.’ Is this simple disagreement founded in the search for truth, or have the pious relinquished that search and instead embraced a bastardized doctrine? I’m talking, of course, about inerrancy. Inerrant simply means ‘without error.’ This goes a bit further with most adherents, who also include a literal interpretation and divine inspiration. So why attack this snobbish doctrine? The simplest answer – it harbors a static view of the Bible that is not compatible with an ever evolving and occasionally progressive society. How can transvaluation, the process of translating values and keeping them relevant as times change, be enacted when it is deemed unnecessary? In place of reinterpretation, there is only a propagated and unjustified dogma. Thus, what need does one have to inquire about anything when they possess the absolute truth? Let us examine this supposed ‘Truth’ for a bit. Of its proponents, I can only wonder how many have studied Hebrew and/or Greek? My studies of the two languages at LSU have made me greatly humbled at the enormous difficulties in translating any ancient text. Don’t believe me? Take the classes and then retort. On the doctrine itself, one of the primary implications of inerrancy is that the Bible is perfect and timeless. Thus, if the text is eternally relevant and beyond correction, homosexuals must be put to death (Leviticus 18:22), menstruation causes moral uncleanliness (Leviticus 15:19-24), women are by nature inferior and subject to men (1 Corinthians 11:8-9) and the rabbit chews cud (Leviticus 11:6), which it indeed does not. Surely no one, regardless of his level of holiness, desires to see a human being put to death for a ‘crime’ issued from our tribal roots in ancient Palestine. But we should be thankful we can now recognize a timely menstrual cycle as a sign of good health and women – despite their lack of external plumbing – are as worthy of human rights as men. And as far as the rabbit chewing cud, that belongs to a lengthy list of contradictory and often incorrect information mentioned in the Bible. But what does this mean for Christianity? It should mean nothing. The Bible spans a vast history and numerous world views, and for this it is bound to have inconsistencies. But for the proponent of inerrancy, the previous statements contradict God and his holy word. Many would choose to reject the aforementioned issues as automatically false or tie themselves into a theological pretzel to defend their position. What does that alone say about the integrity of the doctrine? Must faith be reduced to an all or nothing adherence for it to be sincere? One should hope not. As for the nature of theological accuracy in biblical writings – you decide. We should be more concerned with what literalist views do to people that go on to college to learn that the world is not merely thousands of years old, we do not live in a three-tiered universe and that a human cannot survive in the belly of a fish for three days. Any doctrine that claims to be above question deserves death. Perhaps what is labeled ‘God’ is occasionally nothing more than humanity’s foolish longing for security in place of ignorance. Until these points are recognized, let us await the rebirth of a faith where spiritual fruits conquer religious nuts. Andrew Robertson is a 22-year old religious studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_arobertson. —- Contact Andrew Robertson at [email protected]