My response got published today;
The Bible also has passages ordering the deaths of non-believers. In Numbers 31, God commanded the Israelites to kill all the men, married women and male children of Midian but for the soldiers to divide female virgins amongst themselves.
The Bible has been used to justify a number of evil things, including slavery and genocide. The Bible continues to be used to justify hatred and acts of violence. There are countless examples of Christian extremists using the Bible to justify violence against Jews and Muslims from the Crusades to the atrocities of Nazi Germany against Jews and others.
It was just over four years ago that I visited Turkey, which is over 90 percent Muslim. At no time did I feel unsafe over there, and felt safer there than I do sometimes here. They want the same things many of us want, to be left in peace to worship God as they see fit and aren’t particularly keen on interfering with others based on their religious beliefs, unlike conservative Christians here in the United States.
Yes, the truth is out there, but we live in a time where conservative media and the forces of intolerance attempt to sweep that truth under the rug. We live in a time where the principles of “judge not lest ye be judge” are ignored.
And in the coming days the stupid surely will be invading my mailbox...
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